Changes
by Midknightwalker
Summary: Natsu wants Lisanna on his Team. That doesn't mean Lucy has to quit. It could be Gray, or Erza. Maybe Natsu doesn't want anyone to leave. True, they would get more of the reward, but it could leave someone hurt. Does his greed overpower his nakama? Who's the one hurt? Jerza, GrayLu, slight NaLi, GaLe.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first story on here so please review! I would appreciate it ^^ Any feedback would be great too! Just no flames please.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. But writing about it is just as awesome.**

**This story is currently being edited; just to add more description XD Also, I've added a word that you don't usually see in writing. Just for fun, because I was bored. Hehe**

**Normal POV**

It was a normal day in the guild. Macao, Wakaba and Cana were drinking booze; Nab examining the request board; Mirajane working at the bar and Team Natsu and Lisanna were sitting at a table. Erza was eating her strawberry cake, Lucy was sucking on a lollipop, Gray was eating a snow cone, Happy had a fish and Natsu was devouring his fire chicken, frequently talking, spitting food everywhere. Lisanna watched them at politely, occasionally scolding Natsu about his eating habits.

Natsu belched and pushed his finished plate away from him, wiping a hand over his mouth, "So, what I've been thinking is that, since Lisanna's my girlfriend now, she should join our team."

They all nodded, but they weren't even listening, all thinking the exact same thing: _Here comes another one of Natsu's crazy ideas._

This only provoked Natsu to talk more, "That's GREAT!" He launched into another pointless speech, "Now we can do more jobs and get bigger rewards…"

Erza casted a casual glance around the guild hall and saw her guildmates all talking with one another.

Levy was reading and Gajeel was sneaking looks at the bookworm from across the room.

Happy had long gone from their table and began his advances on Carla.

Wendy was at the bar counter sipping a milkshake while talking to Romeo, no doubt about the latter's newfound magic.

Erza glanced back to her table. Natsu had finally abandoned his conversation and started making out with Lisanna. Gray and Lucy tried their best to ignore them and started animatedly debating on which was better: frozen yogurt or ice cream.

She realized she was envious. Not of the people, but of the relationship they had with each other. Ever since they'd come back from Tenroujima Island, her guildmates held an…_attraction _for each other. _Except_ for her. Sure, she loved her guild members like family, but not anything else. And she was sure no one else looked at her like that. Half of the guild _feared _her!

Of course she knew. How hard was it? If they honestly thought she didn't, their hebetude must have been astonishing. How could she not notice Gray and Natsu shaking in her presence? Well, not only Natsu and Gray, but mainly them.

Erza absentmindedly decided that her love belonged to another guild (but not Blue Pegasus. She wouldn't be able to stand meeting Ichiya if she visited).

Deciding not to think too much into it, the red-haired knight joined Gray and Lucy's "argument," but made her food 'strawberry cheesecake.'

Soon enough, Natsu and Lisanna finished up, the latter standing and leaving their table to talk to her manly brother. Natsu watched her go and after she left he, still breathless, asked his team, "So is it okay?"

Erza blinked, "Sorry, I wasn't listening." She lowered her head, "If it pleases you, you may punch me for not hearing it."

Gray and Lucy laughed nervously, "Erza, that really wouldn't be necessary." They turned to Natsu, "And if you even _think _about actually doing it, I swear..."

Natsu pouted, obviously wanting to, "Is it okay if Lisanna joins? She's awesome at fighting, and could _so _help us! Don't you think?"

"Yeah," Lucy said, unwrapping another lollipop and sucking on it. "Sure, whatever, Natsu." Gray and Erza made sounds of agreement.

"Alright! Thanks Erza! I wasn't sure you'd agree!" A grin spread on Natsu's face. "At least now you can go on a lot more S-class missions, huh?"

"Natsu!" Lucy was aghast, being the first to catch on. "Why would you do that?" Her eyes were wide as she told Gray and Erza, "That... that idiot wants Erza out of the team! For absolutely no reason!"

Natsu chuckled, "Didn't you hear earlier on? So we'd get more Jewels. You're so weird Lucy."

"Flame-brain," Gray said through gritted teeth. "She, quite obviously didn't mean that, none of us heard what you said 'earlier on'. We don't like to watch you eat and talk at the same time." He was disgusted, "Or eat Lisanna's face. _And,"_ he added,_ "_Lucy's reaction was perfectly normal. Erza's our nakama. We don't replace them. And getting more Jewels? Erza's the reason why we get S-class jobs sometimes too."

"And," Lucy's eyebrows furrowed, "How can we get more Jewels if we have the _exact same _amount of people? There are still fou-five," she corrected herself, remembering Happy.

"Fine then. Maybe not the Jewels," Natsu admitted. "Pressure, 'coz she's S-class and she's _the _Titania. We're expected to complete every single job we go on. We can't even take it easy anymore. It's 'cause of her reputation. And, we're watched everywhere. People talk about her the most."

"Erza. Her name is Erza, not 'her'," Lucy said coldly. Erza looked at her in surprise. She didn't know that Lucy could be so cruel. The Lucy she knew was cheerful, even under all the pain she'd been through. "And we're watched all the time because _you _destroy too much. And, just an extra here, but _you're _the reason why we don't get Jewels."

"And," Gray added, "_I _never felt pressured to complete a mission. Who knew that Salamander would be the first one to crumble? Weakling."

Natsu growled at Gray and Erza shifted uneasily. She felt uncomfortable and didn't like how she was ripping the team apart. She opened her mouth to intervene but Lucy beat her to it.

"How about Erza stay and I leave. That would cover the Jewels problem. You are no longer allowed in my apartment, Natsu. After all, only teammates are, or else that would just be weird."

"No," Gray told her firmly. "You won't leave. I will. I never wanted to be in the same team as Tabasco Freak. I knew he would come up with an excuse to get us out of 'his team'."

"Do not bother," Erza finally announced. "I will take my leave." She stood up straight and turned to leave.

"What? No!" Lucy said and grabbed Erza's wrist desperately. "You don't need to do that. It's not needed. Wait," she stopped, "Here's another idea! Natsu, get the hell out."

"Here's a better idea, let's all quit and make our own team," Gray suggested, his idea similar to Lucy's.

Erza gently removed Lucy's hand from her wrist, "No. I started this anyway."

"No you didn't!" Lucy protested. "It's not your fault that you're S-class. It's probably more Natsu's fault that he isn't one yet."

Gray sniggered, agreeing. "Yeah! The only reason why Natsu's doing this is because he wants to be the strongest in the team. He can't if we're not in it." He threatened darkly, "I would rather admit my deepest secret than stay with him."

"Did you just admit I was stronger than you, Ice-freak?" Natsu laughed, not even noticing he was splitting up the team, "You just did! Haha, sucks to be you!"

"I said 'wants to be,' not 'is,'" Gray glared at him, "Hot Head. Anyone as stupid as you is definitely weaker than me." That comment made the two mages start fighting on the tables.

Lucy sighed and looked at Erza, "Seriously, Erza. You don't have to go. At least not alone. Both Gray and I want to come with you. Well, we just don't want to be with him. He doesn't understand."

Erza looked at Lucy sadly, "Lucy, I have to do this. You can't do this."

"No you don't and yes I can."

"Yes I do. I'm making Team Natsu split. You were best friends with him and you just fought him to take my side."

Lucy looked at the floor and mumbled, "It wasn't in the 'best friend contract' for me to side with him in arguments. He's wrong. I go for the side I believe is right. And, he might as well not be my best friend anymore."

Erza shook her head, "Still, you guys can do more without me." Lucy immediately disagreed. Erza's eyes darkened, "Don't disagree. You know it's true."

"It's not, Erza. Remember Oracion Seis? You took out Midnight, and he was the strongest. Sure, Natsu defeated Cobra and Brain but he had help from Je-" Lucy stopped abruptly and hastily changed the subject. "You're the strongest woman in Fairy Tail. If Natsu doesn't want you in his team, he's crazy!" She realised what she had just said and added, "Which he is. Obviously."

Erza knew Lucy felt awkward so she started talking, "Anyway, I'm thinking about doing a _solo_ mission tomorrow." She'd made sure to stress the 'solo' otherwise Gray or Lucy would insist on coming. "I need the money anyways."

"What is it?" Lucy asked, interested.

"Haven't picked it yet." They returned to their comfortable silence and watched Gray and Natsu fight.

Lucy broke the silence, "Aren't you going to stop them?"

"Why should I?" Erza inquired, quirking a brow.

"You usually do," she shrugged nonchalantly. "I just supposed. They're really loud when they fight."

"I thought the guild was too peaceful today."

"Fairy Tail? Peaceful?" Lucy said in disbelief.

"I know!" The two burst out laughing causing the guild to look at them. They were surprised to see Erza so happy.

They eventually calmed down and Lucy spoke again, "Have you noticed that everyone in the guild has gotten together?"

"Yeah, you noticed that? I thought it was just me," Erza admitted. "Especially since Tenroujima and the seven year timeskip. Maybe it was before then, but it's so much more obvious now."

Lucy nodded and they started listing them, "Gajeel and Levy-chan. Gajeel totally has the hots for her. He even volunteered to be her partner! And of course, she agreed."

"Lyon and Juvia," Erza supplied, "Juvia is warming up to him now. She seems to have gotten over Gray as well, which is good."

"And then there's Romeo and Wendy," Lucy gushed. "They are adorable! Romeo seems to have a crush on her as well!"

"Freed and Mirajane too," Erza nodded. "Freed's been going up to the bar counter so often just to order water, even when he's sitting next to a water fountain. Mira always gives him extra dessert as well," she frowned.

"Natsu and Lisanna, obviously." Lucy groaned, "They're already dating, but whatever."

"These two are cute," Erza smiled. "Probably the best in the guild." Lucy looked interested, asking who it was. She paused, "You and Gray."

"Elf- Wait, What?" Lucy blushed. "Gray and I are just friends."

"But you want more, don't you?" Erza smirked, teasing the blushing blonde even more. "Admit it."

If possible, Lucy turned even more red and stuttered, "Erza, I'm happy now." She muttered the next line, "He doesn't like me anyway, I'm sure he doesn't."

Erza put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "Of course he does. He's just very good at hiding it..." She stifled a laugh, "Actually, he isn't."

"Wow Erza, who knew you were an expert in love?" Lucy was amazed.

"Trust me, I'm not. I'm not even interested in any of the guys here."

"_Here_," Lucy emphasized. "But I'm going to find somebody for you." She smiled, "There's got to be someone out there who is perfect for you. In fact, I have a pretty good idea already."

"I wouldn't hold my breath. Your 'pretty good idea' probably doesn't even like me. At all."

"Just you wait Erza; I'll make you fall in love." Lucy squealed, "You guys will be per-fect!"

Erza smiled at her friend's determination, before her attention was diverted by a running bookworm.

Levy ran over to Lucy, "I heard you say something about love? Well, actually, Mira did, and she sent me here. I wanted to read my book, but this was so much more interesting. And, I felt like someone was watching me," she frowned thoughtfully and then shrugged, "Whatever. It could've been my imagination. So whatcha talkin' 'bout?"

"Couples in Fairy Tail," Lucy replied casually. "The really obvious ones.

"So you finally told someone you like Gray?" Levy gasped loudly. Lucy turned red and Levy giggled and yelled, "Well, it's about time you did! We were all geting tired of waiting!" She laughed, "So now you're going to confess, huh?"

"Levy-chan!" Lucy whispered, "Be quiet!" She clamped a hand over the bluenette's mouth and murmured, "Please don't say that..."

"Hah! You admitted it!" Erza said with triumph. "Outloud and straight!"

It was already too late, however, because Gray had immediately stopped his fight with Natsu when he heard Lucy say his name. He had waited until someone else said it to make sure, that was Levy, and he strolled over.

"Someone said my name?" he asked, directing his question at all of them but only looking at Lucy. He cocked his head and a grin crept on his face, "What did you guys say about me? Anything _interesting?_" Lucy flushed.

She quickly answered, not wanting Erza or Levy speak, and give away her secret, "We were talking about-"

"Talking about who looked sexier, you or Natsu," Levy cut in, taking every opportunity to make the blonde turn red from embarrassment. Erza snickered, biting her lip to stop her from belting out with laughter.

Lucy flushed and elbowed Levy before trying to fix her problem. She stammered, "W-what she meant was-"

"That _you_ all think I look pretty damn sexy?" he finished, smiling devilishly at her.

"Actually," Erza put in, "That is not what Levy meant at all." Lucy sent her a grateful look for saving her. Erza continued, her eyes glinting, "What Levy meant was that _Lucy _thought you were 'pretty damn sexy'."

Gray laughed a deep laugh, so loud that some guild members stared at him, but he didn't care. His laughter died down and he sighed tiredly, "We're gonna miss you Erza."

"Don't worry about me," she smiled. "Shouldn't you be celebrating Lisanna's arrival?"

Lucy started, "Maybe but..."

"...It's not going to be the same without you," Gray completed.

Levy leaned over and whispered in Erza's ear, "Look, they're already finishing each other's sentences." Erza stifled a laugh and Lucy looked at her questioningly.

"I'll tell you later," she supplied. "It's very interesting."

"It was probably about how hot I am," Gray said arrogantly, stripping off his shirt and throwing it to who-knows-where. The shirt was quickly followed by his pants, leaving him in his boxers.

Lucy shook her head in mock disappointment, reminded him about it, and then turned to Erza, "So, for your mission tomorrow, are you doing an S-class one?"

Erza thought aloud, "Maybe, if there are some high paying ones in Magnolia."

"How nice would it be to be an S-class? Jobs with big rewards for spending." Lucy daydreamed, no doubt about keys, shoes and clothes, before snapping back into the harsh reality, "Rent! I forgot! I have to pay it by the end of this week!"

"It's Thursday," Levy informed her.

"Crap!" Lucy swore. They all blinked at her, surprised she swore. It was always a rare occasion when she cursed, but Levy had started to notice most of the time, it either related to her rent, or to Natsu.

Gray ruffled her hair affectionately, "Don't worry Luce, we'll take a job tomorrow too. You'll pay your rent. You always manage to at the end anyway."

"Just!" she exclaimed. "Natsu destroys so much…" She sank and slouched, depressed. "I don't want to depend on just luck anymore."

Gray gave her a sympathetic look, before coming up with an idea. "If he was unable to show up for a mission, let's say if he had 2 broken legs, would we be able to go on one alone, just the two of us?" he asked.

Levy whispered to Erza, "That would be a date, right?"

Erza nodded in affirmation, smiling, "An unofficial one though, but that's good enough for now." Lucy stomped on Levy's foot, not bothering to step on Erza's, knowing it wouldn't hurt her.

Lucy replied, "I'd say that 2 broken legs is a bit much, maybe food poisoning?"

"Leave him on the train."

"Make him 'drive' a Magic Cart. He'll get motion sick and the SE plug will be draining magic out of him so when he comes to his sense, he'll have lost all of his magic and can't help us," she grinned.

Levy yet again whispered to Erza, "I love the fact that they're flirting, but that conversation is really dark." She winced at Lucy's most recent idea.

Erza silently agreed and continued listening to their conversation. When the ideas started to get as ridiculous as, 'Tie him to an elephant with non-flammable rope and make the elephant dump him in water far, far away from Fiore,' she started to get fed up. There were many things wrong with that idea.

**1. The elephant would freak out with someone like Natsu on its back.**

**2. The elephant wouldn't be able to untie the rope when it reached its destination.**

**3. The elephant wouldn't make it that far.**

She waited for Lucy to say her idea (which was just as ridiculous, if not worse) before she suggested, "Get Lisanna to distract him."

They both blinked. The two grinned and exclaimed, "That's a great idea! Thanks!"

"Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Gray questioned. "We should've."

"Because you..." Levy started and then saw the look they were all giving her. "Oh, you didn't want an answer, I knew that." She laughed.

"Well, I'm going to ask Lisanna if she can torture Natsu with shopping or something like it," Lucy said standing up. "Actually, maybe something worse. Got any ideas?"

"Maybe a 1 day tour around Fiore by train," Gray suggested, also standing. "Or carriage. Carriages are slower, right? Maybe a horse-drawn one, instead on a magical one. That'd be worse."

"So dark," Levy shuddered. Gajeel looked up, concerned, from his corner of the guild.

"I'm going to the request board," Erza stood. "Levy, are you doing anything else?"

Levy tapped her book, somehow already in her hands, "Reading."

The 3 left Levy sitting at a table reading a book. Even though Lucy did feel _a tiny bit _mean for ditching her best friend, she decided Levy deserved it, after she'd practically yelled out her crush in front of the _entire guild._

After a couple of minutes Levy looked around, "I still feel like I'm being watched." Yet again, she flicked it off as her imagination. Gajeel let out a chuckle.

"Hey Lisanna," Lucy called as she and Gray approached the youngest Strauss sibling. "Can you do me a favour, please?" She corrected, "Us a favour, I mean."

"Hmm?" she asked through a glass of water. She swallowed and placed the glass down, "What can I do?"

"Well, I need rent tomorrow and…" Lucy trailed off. "Gray and I just want to do a job alone, and we can't do that if Natsu's around," Lucy said, embarrassed. "Could you please...?"

"So you want me to distract him," Lisanna said, nodding. "I can do that!" she said cheerfully. "I need to get some shopping done anyway. Most of my clothes don't fit anymore," she pouted and then squealed, "Shopping spree!"

"Thanks Lisanna!" Lucy gave her a hug which she welcomed. "You're the best!"

Lisanna whispered in her ear during the hug, "And hopefully during this mission, you two will start dating so the whole guild can _finally_ collect their earnings, after literal years."

"Earnings?" Lucy pulled back from the hug. "What earnings?"

"From betting," Lisanna replied innocently.

"Is it that obvious?" Lucy blushed, which Gray thought was cute, even though he had no idea what they were talking about. "I-I d-didn't think..." Gray struggled to keep the wide smile off his face.

"Yup!" Lisanna finished her comment with a wink. She waved, "I have to help Mira-nee now, and ask her for the day off tomorrow. See you!"

Lucy stammered, "A-anyway, l-let's go to the request board." She held Gray's hand and pull him along, much to the latter's joy (though he'd ever admit it).

Meanwhile, Erza was on the second floor, picking out her S-class request. No one was up there, giving her the peace and quiet to pick a job worthy enough for her attention.

Her eyes came across one.

**Request: Defeat a group of S-class level bandits terrorizing Hargeon citizens.**

**Client: Mayor of Hargeon**

**Reward: 2, 000, 000 Jewel.**

Erza took the request and made her way downstairs, not before examining her guild again from above.

Lucy and Gray were at the normal request board and they were chatting, or as Mirajane would call it, flirting. But, then again, she called everything flirting. Juvia was out of the guild, probably with Lyon. Natsu and Lisanna were at the bar and Freed was talking with Mirajane. Wendy was scolding Carla about her ignorance to Happy's love while Romeo was consoling Happy.

She was going to miss Team Natsu.

Erza sighed and went to the bar to tell Mira to reserve her job.

She was upset and only one thing could make her happy. The only thing that was guaranteed to make her happy.

Cake.


	2. Chapter 2

**Edit: I added another word this time too XD The previous chapter's word was hebetude, haha. It means stupidity, according to my sources. Ahem, GOOGLE**

The next day, Lucy was at the guild, talking animatedly with Levy, mostly about books.

"Oh yeah!" Levy exclaimed, remembering about Lucy's desperation to pay off her rent, "Aren't you supposed to be on a mission with Gray? You don't want to be late for that." Levy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "Lu-chan~ You know it can be counted as a date?"

Lucy flushed, "Levy-chan! No it does not! Not that I thought of it as one... Anyway, we're actually going later, so no worries!"

"What's the job?" Levy asked inquisitively, leaning her head on her palm. She teased the blonde, "A 'job' in an amusement park? In a pool? Oh, I know! A job that needs both of you to stay overnight at a hotel, which has only one room left, with only one bed!" She smirked as Lucy decided to ignore the last comment, flushing

The blonde sniffed, "We're working in a library in the afternoon. They want a presentation of magic for the children who go there. The reward is 80, 000* Jewel but Gray said I could have his share of the reward." Lucy smiled, "He's really nice."

"Ooh, a library, Lu-chan?" Levy waggled an eyebrow, "How romantic. Maybe something might happen in an abandoned aisle, between shelves." She winced, "Don't go to the magic aisle though, I like that section."

"It's not like that Levy-chan!" Lucy screamed, crossing her arms. "You don't understand..."

"Understand what?" Gray appeared, stripped. "Maybe I could help. What is it?" She shook her head quickly, refusing to speak.

"What about Natsu?" Levy asked with interest, changing the topic completely. "What's he doing while you guys are on your 'job'?" She was elbowed harshly by the blushing blonde. "Alright, alright."

"Shopping with Lisanna," Gray replied, "They're off already."

"Personally, I think that she should've done something worse," Lucy said. "I think shopping might've been a bit light for what he did to Erza."

"Lucy, do not underestimate the what load of shopping can do to a man," He shuddered, "It's horrible. Natsu will have to stay home for like 2 days," Gray grinned. "Maybe we could do another job tomorrow too?" He covered, "That is, only if you want to."

Lucy smiled, "Yeah, I would." She flushed and stammered, "I-If you want to as well. You don't have to, of course. I just"-

Levy cleared her throat, interrupting,"Maybe I should leave." She stood up halfway before Gray stopped her.

Gray looked at Levy in surprise. He had forgotten she was there. They both had, in their conversation. He shook his head and spoke, "No need, Levy. We should be going now, right?" He looked at Lucy.

"Sure, after you find your shirt," Lucy replied, nodding. She smirked devilishly as he jumped up and yelled.

"When did this happen?!"

* * *

Eventually-after a long, long time-Gray found his clothes and he and Lucy hurried to Magnolia Library, extremely late.

"Blame that stupid cat for taking my shirt!" Gray shouted, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Oh, don't blame Happy," Lucy said. "He just has a twisted sense of humour. Especially that 'he liiiikes you joke'," She smiled sourly, having been the victim of that joke many times.

"Okay, so it's probably not Happy's fault. Maybe Firecracker's stupidity has rubbed off on him," Gray justified, not holding any hard feelings to the blue trickster.

"Maybe," Lucy laughed. They stopped running and walked into the library. She saw someone and jogged towards her. "Are you the Head Librarian? We're the Fairy Tail mages. Sorry we're late; we had a…issue we had to deal with."

"It's okay dear; the children haven't come yet. Do you need to set up? You can go inside that room," she pointed to a door with the words **MAGIC PRESENTATION TODAY**. "The children will come in after about 5 minutes. Please be ready by then."

"Thank you," Lucy bowed politely and she and Gray walked into the room. It was simple, only having a chair and a table. The room was clean enough, and it had air-conditioning too. Lucy guessed it was because they knew Gray was an ice mage.

Sure enough, Gray made a comment, "Ooh, air-conditioning. Nice." He laughed.

Lucy just chuckled and laid her keys on the table that was set out for them. She paused, "Only one chair?" She sighed and shrugged, "Oh well."

"You can have it," Gray offered. "I'll just stand. It'll be fine."

Lucy shook her head, "Don't worry, I'll just sit on the table." She sat and took a glance at Gray. She facepalmed. "Gray, we're going to be in front of children. Unless you want to be arrested for pedophellia, you better put your shirt back on."

"Whoops, sorry." He slid his shirt on, "Do you have a plan? For the lesson, I mean."

"We can just tell them about magic, and then I can go up and teach them about my spirits, show them a couple, then answer their questions. You can go after, unless you want to go first?"

"Nah, you can," he declined. "Unless you don't want to... I can go up if you don't..." She giggled.

Just at that moment, the children came in and sat themselves on the floor. There were two stoic looking teachers, and about 20 kids around the ages of 8-9 years old. As soon as they looked comfortable, Lucy introduced herself cheerily, "Hi! We're Fairy Tail wizards. I'm Lucy and this Gray," she motioned to Gray and he waved, "and today, we're going to teach you about magic."

Gray spoke up, "I'm an Ice-make mage, and Lucy is a Celestial Spirit mage. Does anyone know what these magics do?

All of the class put their hands up. A girl answered, "We've learnt about Ice-make magic but not Celestial Spirit magic."

Lucy smiled, even though she was sad, "That's okay, most of the Celestial Spirit mages disappeared in the past 7 years." She brightened, "We can talk about our magic later, but now, I want to hear your opinion on what magic is."

Lucy picked a boy in the back row. He had black hair and blue eyes, and was cute in Lucy's opinion, "Magic is a special thing mages can do. They can use it for fighting, or for helping people, but mainly _fighting!_"

Lucy and Gray laughed quietly. "What's your name?" Lucy asked.

The boy immediately replied, "Fuyuki."

"Fuyuki, yes, you are correct. Magic is special. They're powers, of some sort, that belong to one person. Everyone's magic is different." She thought a bit before continuing, "Okay, as you know, we are mages from Fairy Tail. And in Fairy Tail, there is a boy named Natsu Dragneel. He is also known as the Salamander."

The children were whispering to each other, "The Salamander!?"

"Yes, _the _Salamander. We're both Natsu's friends," she said and turned to Gray who started to protest. "_Just go with it,_" She mouthed. Gray nodded unhappily.

"You may know, Natsu is the Fire Dragon Slayer. This means he can eat fire and use it. Fire can't hurt him. Then there's another boy in our guild, his name is Romeo Conbolt, he's a couple years older than you guys, and he also uses fire magic. He can't eat fire, so that's different from Natsu. And his fire is in different colours, and Natsu can't do that, so they're both different," Lucy explained.

The kids' eyes were wide, and were staring at Lucy with interest. Gray was impressed; he didn't know she was that good with children.

He blushed as a thought crossed his mind.

"Also, magic tends to reflect on someone's personality. My best friend, Levy McGarden, is an avid reader. She _loves _her books. So her magic is Solid Script. She writes the word, and the word becomes real life. Do you guys want another example?"

The children nodded.

"Okay then. Cana Alberona, when she was a kid, wanted to find her father. She knew he was in Fairy Tail, and that's why she joined it. Her father consistently took long missions so she couldn't tell him. She took up card magic so she could predict when he was coming home."

Gray started talking, "Basically, what she's saying is that Magic belongs to a person, and to only that person. If you're a mage you should treasure your magic."

Lucy smiled at Gray and they both flushed.

"Well, now onto specific magics!" she beamed. "As I said, my magic is Celestial Spirit magic, which is a holder magic. I call out my spirits with my keys," she picked up her keys from the table and dangled them. "There are 88 keys you can collect, and I've currently got 14 of them. There a gold and silver keys. There are only one type of each gold key in the world, and there are 12 of them. I've currently got 10."

The kids 'wowed.'

"I've got 4 silver keys." Lucy turned serious, "There are some… cruel mages with the same magic type as mine. They're cruel because they don't treat their spirits nicely. If you ever see someone not being nice to their spirits, you tell them to, okay? Because spirits, like any person, have feelings. They can be sad, happy, anything. They also have their own…_unique _personality," She turned happy again, "So, enough with the serious talk, who wants to see them?"

All of the children had their hands waving in the air excitedly. "Me, me, me!" they all shouted excitedly, "Please!" Before they were shushed by the teachers/

"Gray, do you want to pick 2?" She asked him. Gray nodded and chose two kids, a girl and a boy.

Lucy showed them her keys before saying, "Each of you, pick 2."

The girl picked Aquarius and Plue.

Lucy nodded, "Okay, Aquarius and Plue. Wait, Aquarius?" She chuckled nervously, "I don't think that's a good idea. Sorry, can you pick another one?" she asked the girl. The girl lifted her hand and pointed to Virgo's key.

Lucy smiled, "Okay then." She summoned Virgo, "Open! Gate of the maiden! Virgo!" The Celestial Spirit materialized

"Princess, time for punishment?" Virgo bowed low. "Or perhaps a change of clothes for you and Gray-sama?"

The little girl's eyes went wide, _she's a princess? Amazing..._

Lucy shook her head, "No need Virgo, I'm just showing these kids how my magic works. Introduce yourself."

Virgo bowed, "Very well. I am Virgo, and I am princess's spirit. My magic is Earth Magic."

Lucy smiled, "That's all, Virgo." She closed her gate. "Okay, for this next one. He is Plue, and he may look like a snowman, but he's a dog. He gets very nervous around people so you have to be quiet."

She took his key and waved it in the air, "Open the gate of the Canis Minor! Nikora!"

"Pun-pun," Plue appeared, shaking and looking as adorable as always. The two teachers 'awwed' and then looked embarrassed in their sudden show of emotion. Then Plue walked up to the nearest girl sitting down and nuzzled her leg. The girl, unsure of what to do awkwardly patted him.

"Pun-pun!" Plue continued walking around and all of the children reached out eagerly to pat him. After they had all stroked him, Lucy closed his gate, "Plue is so cute. He's like my pet, because it doesn't take much magic to summon him."

She kneeled down in front of the boy and held her keys in front of him. His hand hovered over the keychain.

"Wait."

Gray took the keychain and unhooked one. He put it on the table and handed Lucy back the rest of her keys. Lucy raised a brow.

"Loke shouldn't be around children," Gray covered, hiding the fact that he didn't want Leo to come out and flirt with Lucy. Lucy hummed in agreement and the boy picked Aries and Gemini.

"Good choice, I think you'll really like these two," she smiled at the boy. The boy gave a shy smile to Lucy. She grinned and held onto the keys, "Open the gate to the Ram! Aries!"

Aries popped out, as well as a lot of wool, "Y-yes, Lucy?"

"I'm showing my magic to these cuties. Can you tell them who you are, and what magic you use. If you want to, can you also give them some of your wool to feel?"

"O-of course. I'm Aries, spirit of the Ram and Lucy is my friend. I use wool magic," Aries made a handful of wool and passed it to the closest kid. They passed in around the room and the teacher kept it.

"That'll be all Aries. Thank you," Lucy closed Aries's gate and held onto another key, "Open the gate of the Twins! Gemini!"

Gemini came out in a cloud of smoke, "Gemi-mini!"

Lucy said, "This time, instead of Gemini telling you what magic they use, you have to guess. Gemini, turn into me."

Gemini mimicked the appearance of Lucy and the kids gasped before some raised their hands.

Lucy picked a girl, "Can they copy the look of someone?"

"You're half correct. Yes, Gemini can copy the appearance of someone so well that it can match every detail. While in that form, they can collect information, like reading someone's mind. They can also use the same magic as someone."

Someone shouted out, "Cool!" only to get hushed by the teacher.

"Wanna see it?" Lucy laughed. The children nodded eagerly. She ordered, "Gemini, turn to Gray." In a puff of smoke, the 'Lucy' turned into a 'Gray.' "Tell me Gray's thoughts on me," Lucy instructed, grinning. _Huh, _Lucy thought, _I can't believe I've never thought of this before. I could've proved to Erza that he didn't like me._

"Gray's thoughts on Lucy." Gemini recited, "Celestial Spirit mage. Looks pretty damn cute. Possesses some skill. He liiiiiiiiiikes-"

Gray covered Gemini's mouth with his hand. He chuckled nervously, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Lucy looked at him suspiciously and closed Gemini's gate.

"Lucy, why didn't you call me out?" Lucy turned her head, only to be greeted by her Lion Spirit, whining and complaining. Gray rolled his eyes and snickered.

"Loke, later," she waved her hand and dismissed him rudely.

"But Lucy…" he whined.

"This is Leo, guys," Lucy introduced. "I didn't expect him to come out, but he did because he's stubborn," Lucy told them.

"Can't you just close his gate?" a child asked.

"Well, yes, I could. But Leo here, is probably one of my strongest spirits, and can open and close his gate with his own will. If I closed his gate, he would open it again," Lucy explained.

Loke smirked, "And I would do it over and over again, if that meant I could be with you for the rest of eternit-"

Loke was interrupted by a teacher, "Excuse me but it seems like we've gone over time. We must leave _now_."

"Oh! I didn't even notice," Lucy said, frowning. "Sorry."

A boy from the class moved up holding a box. He presented it to Lucy, "This is for you."

"Aww, thank you!" She exclaimed. And then she frowned again, "But Gray didn't even"-

-"Yes, well we must get going," the teacher restated. "We're running late for the carriage back. We must leave now. Goodbye."The class exited and Lucy sat on the table.

She crossed her arms, "Gray! You didn't even get to do anything! You were supposed to tell me when you wanted to do yours." She pouted, "It's a shame, I wanted to see you teach."

He waved the comment off, "It doesn't matter. The reward's all for you anyway." He smiled slightly, "I didn't know you were so good at teaching. You were really good."

She flushed at the compliment, "Thanks. I mean it. Really, I do," Lucy rambled. "And the reward too. Thanks for that too."

"Lucy, what's in the box?" Loke asked energetically, breaking the moment, much to Gray's annoyance.

"Patience, Loke," Lucy scolded. "Why did you even open your gate? It was uncalled for." Gray crossed his arms and raised a brow, curious to hear an answer as well.

"I wanted to see you," Loke winked, "Isn't that a good enough?" Lucy stared, uninterested. Loke pouted childishly, "You should call me out more often, Lucy~ I miss you!" He opened his arms to hug her but Gray stepped in.

He pushed him away from her, "Back off, buddy. Too close."

Loke smirked, "Oh... So that's how it is, huh? _Gray." _The raven haired mageglared angrily, and icy aura already around him.

Lucy opened the box and blinked at what was inside. And then she reacted. "The kids were so sweet! Don't you think, Gray?"

"What did you get?" Gray questioned, a smile replacing his glare as he looked at her.

Lucy took out the content of the box, "Pyxis, the compass key!"

"What's its magic?" Gray asked, interested.

"I don't know. I think I'll make a contract with it when I get home!" Lucy said cheerfully. She waved her arms around, "Let's go now! Come on!"

"Wait, Lucy, you can go on ahead, I want to talk with Gray," Loke said seriously. "Stay safe though, I'll go back to the Spirit World when we're done. I expect Gray will be at your apartment too," he smirked. "Like always."

Lucy blinked, surprised, before composing herself, "That's okay! See you, Gray! And Loke," she crossed her arms, "You really shouldn't come out like that again."

Loke pouted, "But I wanted to see you! And protect you from this pervert, who is advancing on you without your knowledge." They both blushed. "Princess! You couldn't possibly like him too! My broken hear"-

"Shut up Loke," they both snapped. Lucy shook her head and walked out of the door, waving to Gray.

He waved back until she was out of earshot, and then he turned to Loke grumpily, "What did you want, Loke?"

"You like Lucy, don't you?" Loke accused.

Gray exhaled. "Yes."

Loke stepped forward and grabbed the collar of Gray's shirt and threatened, "If you hurt her, it doesn't matter if we're nakama, I will hurt you. Not only me, all of Lucy's spirits. Even Aquarius. It doesn't look like it, but she cares about Lucy. Putting it simply, if you hurt Lucy, I will never forgive you. Understood?"

Gray nodded and Loke stepped back.

"Sorry about that. It's kind of a thing I do with all of my owner's boyfriends. One of my previous owner's boyfriend chickened out. It was hilarious. But take it seriously. Just because you're my friend, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."

"Nah, man, I understand," Gray acknowledged. "Lucy's a person who you'd do anything for."

"I wasn't kidding about Aquarius, by the way. She will kill you if you bring harm to Lucy," Loke said.

Gray thought about an angry Aquarius and trembled, "Alright."

Loke changed the topic, "Anyway, let's get to the guild."

***I read on Fairy Tail wiki that after the 7 year gap, Lucy's apartment cost went up 80, 000 jewel.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry if I took long to update. I didn't think it was that long but if you thought it was, sorry. I'll try to update sooner, but no promises.**

**This chapter is about Erza's job. It's on the same day as the chapter before, only a bit earlier.**

**Disclaimer: No matter how hard I try, I can never draw the Fairy Tail characters as well as Hiro Mashima does. So, I resort to writing about them.**

In the morning, when Erza woke up, she requipped into her armour. She went to the guild and ordered a strawberry shake. She ignored all the stares that she got; they had to know eventually anyway.

As soon as Mira handed her the shake, she walked out, calmly and respectfully, walking to the train station.

She paid for her ticket and boarded, sitting in her own compartment. The train moved and Erza stared at the fleeting scenery because she had nothing else to do. She missed the weight on her legs that would be there when Natsu was knocked out. She even missed his motions sickness.

She was already missing them and she hadn't been gone for an hour. Hargeon wasn't far from Magnolia so Erza got there quickly.

She walked through the town, straight to the mayor's office. As she walked she heard whispers.

"That's Erza Scarlet!"

"The Titania!"

"Is she here about the bandits?"

"But she's from Fairy Tail, right? She'll destroy the buildings!"

"No, she won't. She _is _an S-class mage."

_So that's what Natsu meant by pressure, I didn't think it was that bad, _Erza thought sadly.

She continued walking to her destination, trying to ignore the rumours circulating her. When she did reach the mayor's house, she was welcomed in by maids who sat her down and gave her cookies which she graciously accepted, seeming she didn't have breakfast this morning.

When she finished she had to wait a couple of minutes for the Mayor.

When he did arrive, he sat opposite of her, "Please excuse me for my tardiness, Miss Scarlet."

Erza sat up straighter and replied stiffly, "It is okay. And please, call me Erza."

"As you wish. As the request said, there are bandits in this town. If you get rid of them, I will gladly pay you 2, 000, 000 Jewel.

"I understand. Do you have other details?"

"Yes. They attack in Town Square, that's why if you go there it'll be empty. They might have a hideout there, because they attack specific people. According to a man who was attacked, there are 6-8 mages, and their magic all are of the elements. They hurt random people for no unknown reason; however, if you have the intent on harming them, they will try to kill you. That is how the Trimens ended up in a coma for 3 months, then it was upgraded to S-class. Please be careful, Erza."

Erza stood up, "I will do my best."

The maids showed Erza the way out and she made her way to Hargeon Square.

As the mayor said, it was abandoned. There were stalls and shops, but none of them were open. Erza scanned all the shops when the sounds of footsteps filled her ears. She whipped her head around only to see 3 figures in blue cloaks pass her. She watched them until they were out of sight.

She didn't know them, yet their magical presence felt familiar. Erza, for once was confused. She was so distracted; she didn't see a bandit behind her.

"Vine Grip!"

Vines broke out from under Erza's feet, wrapping around her body and trapping her. She struggled, trying to get out of it.

"Don't bother," the capturer walked towards her. "Hmm," he twirled a lock of scarlet hair, "Scarlet… You must be Erza Scarlet. Here on a job to get us? That's too bad." He laughed a deep rumbling laugh, "Come out, boys."

6 men appeared out of alleys. They walked slowly, thinking they would be able to defeat her. They were wrong, she already had a plan.

And she would have executed it, if the three that had crossed her path earlier didn't run back. Much to her disappointment, their cloaks still concealed their identity.

The only clue she got was how they ran. In the middle, it looked like there was a guy and the other two were female.

The taller woman made a tree burst out of the ground. The attack only actually hit one person, but somehow, all others were knocked out.

Erza concluded that this was the doing of the younger girl, as she muttered something incoherent before the other attacked.

As the two continued fighting, the man walked up to Erza. Still not showing his face, he said, "Need help?"

_He sounds so much like…Jellal_, Erza thought. She shook her head, getting rid of the thought and answering his question.

She summoned a sword and sliced the vines, freeing herself. Then, she turned to the guy who tied her up and glare. Erza requipped into her Flame Empress Armour and roasted the guy. She glanced at the guy and back to her sword, "Huh, it used to be better."

Suddenly, it clicked. _Could it be that I've gotten weaker? No, that's wrong. I stayed the same. The others moved on._

Then she realised how much her nakama had suffered. They had tried to move on, but they couldn't. That day on Tenroujima, they had lost family. Now they were back, and they were finally together again. But it came with a price. To survive, they had lost 7 years of their lives. They didn't know what had happened, and they didn't change at all. Not only their looks, but their magic. Now they were seriously behind the others.

She helped the girls defeat the rest of the bandits.

When they did, Erza immediately offered them some of the reward, "You should get most of the reward, you took down most of them anyway."

The three shook their heads, refusing.

"Seriously you should," she repeated.

They, yet again shook their heads and started walking away.

"Take the reward," Erza stated.

They continued walking.

"Jellal!"

The man turned around and his hood fell off, revealing a blue haired, tattooed man.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I will always remember," Erza smiled sadly.

They both looked at each other, with regret, sorrow and loneliness.

"Sorry," he said out of the blue. He used telepathy and contacted Meredy, _Do it now, before I change my mind._

Meredy smiled, happy.

Erza looked at them, confused.

Then she blanked out.

The last thing she remembered seeing was a magical pattern around her wrist.

A sense link.

* * *

When she came to her senses, she didn't know where she was. It didn't have much light, and it was creepy but she felt safe, and that was because Jellal was kneeling in front of her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She sat up. She looked around, and saw the other two sitting behind him.

"Meredy and Ultear," she realised.

Jellal nodded.

"Where did you take me?" Erza asked, her voice laced with suspicion.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Erza. I regained all my memories." He looked at her sadly, "Look, I'm sorry. For...Simon."

Erza stared at him before replying, "That wasn't your fault. It never was. Don't blame yourself."

Jellal moved backwards, "It was. I should have escaped with you. We could've joined Fairy Tail together. Instead, I recreated the Tower of Heaven. I killed Simon."

Erza looked at Jellal who looked like he was about to cry, "No. It wasn't your fault Simon died. I wasn't strong enough."

"It's neither of your fault," Ultear cut in. "I possessed Jellal."

"Let's just say it's Zeref's fault," Meredy said.

"Back to the main point, where am I?" Erza asked.

"Somewhere dark," Jellal answered. "That's all you need to know."

"Why did you bring me here?" Erza went back to her serious self.

"Why do you think?" Jellal questioned.

Erza backed up against a wall, "I...I don't know."

"When you were at Tenroujima Island, Ultear and Meredy busted me out of jail."

Meredy scratched her head, embarrassed, "Ultear did most of the work."

"Well, anyway, Ultear explained what happened and I forgave her. We created a independent guild, one the Council doesn't know about. We're Crime Sorciere," Jellal said, proudly. "Crime Sorciere exterminates dark guilds."

"What's your point? Why do you need me?"

Ultear stood, "We want you to join Crime Sorciere."

* * *

"Why?" Erza asked after recovering from her shock.

"You're strong," Ultear replied.

"And Jellal lliiiiiiiikes you," Meredy added.

"Meredy!" Jellal said menacingly.

She snickered in reply.

"No, my magic power stayed the same while I was in Tenrou," Erza reasoned.

"I can activated your second origin," Ultear explained. "That's the magic power dormant in you. Then, you can train for a couple of months."

"I can't join 2 guilds," Erza stated. "And I'm definitely not leaving Fairy Tail."

"That rule only applies to legal guilds," Jellal smirked. "We're independent."

Erza sighed, "Do I get time to think?"

"Of course," Jellal said. "Five minutes."

"Are you serious?!" Erza shouted.

"Erza," Jellal sighed. "Please."

"Fine," Erza said dejectively. "You owe me a lifetime supply of cakes."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to," Jellal said. "We're not forcing you."

"I do want to join," Erza persisted. "I just wanted a bonus of cake."

"Well, we can do that," Meredy laughed.

"Where do you want your stamp?" Ultear questioned, holding a magical stamper that appeared out of nowhere.

"Here," Erza turned and Ultear stamped a red mark on Erza, in the same place as her Fairy Tail tattoo except on the other arm.

"Cake!" she exclaimed.

"What about I activate your second origin first. It hurt a lot so when you have the cake it'll taste better," Ultear suggested.

"Okay," Erza said, eager for cake.

"Second Origin Release," Ultear chanted.

They waited.

"Am I supposed to feel anything?" Erza asked. "Like pain, pleasure, or anything at all?"

"Yeah, normally people would be screaming in agony," Ultear said.

"Well, can I have cake now?" Erza asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Jellal threw a bag at her. "That's your money from the reward, by the way."

"How did you get it?"

Jellal tapped his temple, "Thought Projection."

"Genius," Erza muttered. She fumbled with the bag and took out 500, 000 Jewel. Then she threw the bag back at Jellal who wasn't ready so the bag smacked him in the face.

"I told you to keep the reward earlier," she said. "You should've."

"Geez," Jellal rubbed his face. "Was it really necessary to throw it at me?"

"No," she admitted, "I just did that for fun."

"Let's have cake now!" Meredy sang.

"So now that I'm a member, can I know where we are?" Erza asked.

"Yup," Jellal answered. "We're in one of Hargeon's alleys."

"We were that close? You made it sound like you broke into someone's house!" Erza growled angrily.

"Well, I thought the suspense would convince you to join," he replied sheepishly.

Erza's eyes softened, "I would've joined anyway."

"CAKE!" Meredy interrupted their intimate moment.

They both sighed.

"You did say you wanted to eat, right?" Ultear asked.

Erza nodded, "Let's go."

She walked out of the darkness and was surprised to see the sunset.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Uhh, a couple of hours?" Jellal said, more like a question.

"Idiot!"

Erza looked around the town. It looked different.

Jellal, now sporting a huge bump to the head noticed her movement and said, "As soon as you-"

"We,"she interrupted.

Jellal continued, "we defeated the bandits, all of the townspeople rushed in. It was havoc."

"Glad I wasn't there for that then." Her eyes caught on something, "Cake shop!" She ran to it, leaving the rest of Crime Sorciere follow after her.

* * *

Erza was seated, and was elegantly eating her strawberry cheesecake.

"Why did you choose this place?" Meredy took a bite out of her sponge cake.

"It's the 6th best place to get cake in Fiore," she replied.

"You remember and list them?" Ultear said in disbelief through a mouthful of Tiramisu.

"Yeah." She took another bite. "Wait, no. There's a new one in Balsam I haven't tried."

Jellal silently ate his chocolate cake.

"You like chocolate cake?" Erza asked.

"Yup. Best cake out there," Jellal answered without thinking. He saw Erza's face, _Great job Jellal, you've just angered Titania. _

"After Strawberry, of course."

Erza calmed down, "Completely correct."

Jellal exhaled.

"Nice save," Meredy whispered.

Jellal nodded. Meredy started talking to Jellal quickly, shooting words out of her mouth as fast as Jet.

Ultear took this opportunity to whisper to Erza, "So, do you like Jellal?"

Erza blushed, "What? No. Why would you think that?" Her eyes widened, "It's obvious, isn't it? He's realised but doesn't like me so he didn't say anything." She buried her head into her arms, only lifting her head to eat cake.

Ultear, bewildered at her answer, not expecting Titania to break down with her even saying anything. Jellal saw Erza depressed, even though Meredy was trying hard to distract him from it, "Erza, are you okay? Ultear didn't tell you anything, **did **she?" he asked with an edge in his voice directed to Ultear.

"Yeah, she did. Wished she didn't though," a depressed Erza replied.

Jellal misunderstood and thought that Erza wished she didn't know Jellal liked her. He was sad, then angry at Ultear.

"Ultear, come with me outside and explain. Now."

Ultear squeaked and followed him.

"Meredy..." Erza swallowed a mouthful of cake. "I need another cake."

Meredy ordered another one for her. While they were waiting, Meredy said, "You do know that Jellal likes you, right?"

"No he doesn't. Ultear said so," Erza said.

"I don't think that's what she meant," Meredy smiled. "Jellal likes you. Ultear and I know it. It's obvious. Ever since we broke him out, he has talked about you every day."

"Really?" Erza sat up and thanked the waitress who gave her a cake.

"Yup," she popped the 'p'. "Gets kinda annoying, actually." She deepened her voice in an attempt to sound like Jellal, "The Fairy Tail members are still alive, I know it. Erza's not dead. She can't be. She was too strong."

Erza laughed.

Meredy saw and continued, "Her hair's scarlet, a beautiful scarlet... Did you know I created her surname? I did! Creative, huh?"

"Meredy..." Jellal said from behind her.

Ultear quickly sat down, "Misunderstanding's all cleared up."

"What misunderstanding?" Erza asked.

"...Never mind."

"One more question, do I tell Master Makarov about this?"

"Yes, but only him. Not Natsu or anything, he's going to wreck towns trying to find us," Jellal told her.

"But I wanna see Juvia," Meredy whined.

"And I want to see Gray," Ultear said.

"We will," Jellal said mysteriously, "Before the games."

Erza looked at them, "What?"

"I'll tell you next time," Jellal said. "You should be getting home."

"Yeah," Erza stood up and walked to the counter.

Using his Meteor, Jellal beat her their and quickly paid for th cakes.

"Jellal," Erza grumbled, "You shouldn't do that."

"Do what?" He asked, "Pay for you, or use my magic?"

Erza looked away, "Both."

"Take her home, Jellal," Ultear said. "Meredy and I are going to the cave."

And with that, they left.

"You don't have to go to Magnolia, you can just see me off," Erza said.

"No, I should. A lady shouldn't be going around at night," he said.

"It's only evening. And I'm an S-class mage," Erza reminded him.

"Still."

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

"No."

"Yes."

"Guys aren't allowed inside Fairy Hills."

"Then I'll say goodbye outside."

"There's no point."

Jellal stayed quiet until it was time for Erza to board.

"So, uhh. Bye," Erza wove.

Jellal didn't say anything.

Erza turned to get on the train but Jellal placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

Before she could say anything, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.

"All aboard!"

Erza was speechless. And by the looks of it, so was Jellal. Both of them were blushing. They were opening and closing their mouths like they were trying to say something, then decided against it.

Finally, Jellal spoke softly, "See you next time."

All Erza could do was nod.

"All aboard!"

She turned and murmured, "See you."

Jellal smiled slightly,_What have you just done?_

Erza boarded and sat down, quietly. _What was that about? Did it mean anything? Does he maybe like me too?_

The train moved.

It was heading to Magnolia.

Away from Hargeon.

Away from Jellal.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's the next chapter! Truly sorry for the late update. I have no excuse, except homework. Which isn't really an excuse.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Hiro Mashima, so I don't own Fairy Tail. **

Erza walked thoughtfully to Fairy Hills.

"Erza!" Levy called out from her window. "You're back! I need to tell you about Gray and Lucy's development!"

Erza rushed to Levy's room, "What happened?"

"Well, Lucy went directly home after the mission, but Gray and Loke came to the guild. Eventually, Gray left and Loke filled us in on it. Gray admitted to liking Lucy! He's going to have to tell her soon. Apparently, Loke told him that if Gray didn't act quickly, Loke would steal her. GENIUS!" Levy squealed. "What happened with you?"

"Went on a mission, completed it and came back. Easy," she lied.

"You came back late," Levy said.

"I had cake too."

Levy nodded and Erza excused herself and went back to her room.

She thought about Jellal that night.

* * *

2 days after that, Erza woke up and ate breakfast and then went to the guild. When she did, she was surprised to see Natsu fighting Max. And Natsu was getting his butt handed to him.

Max forfeited after Natsu used a move on him, and then realised Erza was watching.

"Oh Erza!" Max exclaimed gleefully. "Hi! Fight me?"

_He probably thinks I've gotton weaker too, _Erza thought, _Time to see if Ultear's magic works._

"Very well," she agreed.

The guild chattered, placing bets. It was pretty much 50-50.

"Start!" Macao announced.

Max immediately shielded himself with sand, forming a sphere around him.

Erza saw this and requipped to her Lightning Empress Armour and shot a beam at him.

After the smoke cleared, Max's shield dispelled and there were glass pieces on the floor. Max had cuts all over his body.

"How did glass appear?" Natsu asked Lucy.

Gray answered for her, "Coz when sand is hit with lightning, it turns into glass, fire-breath."

"Freeze Brain!"

"Ash head!"

"Stripper!"

"Pyromanic!"

"Guys, shut up!" Lucy exclaimed.

Gray flinched, "Sorry Luce."

She gave him a smile.

"I'm not going to give up!" Max exclaimed. "Sand Slash!"

A sand whip sent Erza flying into a tree. She quickly requipped into her Flight Armour and leapt off the tree, holding her Sea Empress sword.

She flew at speeds impossible for eyes to see and slashed Max with piercing waves. Max was knocked off his feet and was on his back.

Erza landed and requipped into her normal outfit, holding two swords. She pointed them at Max's neck, "This match is over."

Lucy clapped, soon followed by Gray, and then the whole guild was applauding.

"Erza!" Natsu shouted. "When did you get so strong?"

"Trained a bit yesterday," Erza said. That was true, the day before, Erza did train. SHe was trying to see if her magic had improved. She couldn't really tell, but sparring with Max made it easy to decide.

"But that was so cool!" Lucy rushed up to Erza with sparkles her eyes, "You can mix armours now!"

Gray looked at Lucy fondly, _Cute._

"What mission did you go on yesterday?" Erza asked.

"A mission in Mt Hakobe," Gray replied.

"It was so cold," Lucy shivered. "Thankfully, Gray lent me his coat," she beamed.

"I want that back, by the way," Gray put his arm over her shoulders.

"Only after you put on your clothes," Lucy teased.

"When did this happen?"

Erza smiled and went inside the guild. She entered Makarov's office, "Excuse me Master for coming in without knock-" Then she saw who he was talking to, "What's Jellal doing here?"

"He wanted to tell me something," Makarov said. "Erza, Jellal here was telling me you joined an independent guild," he said sternly.

"Yes, Master. I'm sorry I did so without consoling you first," she said.

Makarov bounded down from his seat. "It is alright, as long as you're happy. Ever since you were a child, you have been the subject of my favouritism. I have loved as I would've loved a daughter. And I was wondering..." he trailed off.

"Master, I'm not leaving. What are you getting at?"

He leaned in and whispered, "Can I walk you down the aisle when you get married?"

"Master! Be sensible!"

He chuckled, "Well, anyway. I'll leave you here to chat. I need to pee." And he left.

"I apologise for his crudeness," she said, "That's his personality."

"I understand," he said. They fell into an awkward silence.

Jellal gathered up the courage to speak again, "Um, Erza...About yesterday,"

"Yes?" she asked.

"That kiss," Jellal began, "What it meant was..."

Erza sensed his awkwardness and said, "That didn't mean anything, did it? I mean, you don't like me or anything."

"Err, yeah, that's what it was. Umm, a 'Welcome to Crime Sorciere' kiss."

"Did you do that with all your members?"

"Nope, it only works if the subject is you."

Jellal realised what he said and flushed.

He coughed, "What I was meaning to say, was that there's a new dark guild. Their pretty strong, so we're going to defeat them. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" Erza replied, "When?"

"Today. We're planning on infiltrating. And we know they'll accept us because, you know, I recreated the R-system and Meredy and Ultear were in Grimoire Heart."

"What about me?"

Jellal said, "Well, that's the problem. Ultear came up with an idea that I had **no **part in."

"What is it?"

"You ruled the Tower of Heaven beside me, except behind the scenes."

"They might guess it's a lie," Erza pointed out.

Jellal flushed, "That's why we're going to say you're my girlfriend."

Erza blushed, "Okay. I-I mean it's j-just for the j-job, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you should pack for a week, that's how long it should be. Tell your guild you're going on a mission. Makarov-san already knows."

Erza nodded and went outside. Jellal went out the back door.

Erza joined Gray and Lucy talking.

"What did you go into Master's office for?" Lucy asked brightly.

"Master wanted to give me a mission that had personally requested my services," Erza lied.

"How long are you going?" Gray asked.

"Approximately 1 week," she said.

"That's so long," Lucy muttered.

"But they give me accomadation and food," Erza said.

"Woah! Lucky!" Lucy said, amazed. "We always have to buy or find food on our own."

"And when we do," Gray added, "Flame Brain steals it."

"That's why we pack a secret stash of candy each trip," Lucy told her. "We usually share, Gray usually has my favourite lollipop flavour."

Unknown to her, Gray purposely bought those lollipops (which he thought tasted disguisting) only to share it with Lucy.

"And Lucy always has those gummy bears," Gray said.

"I didn't know you liked gummy bears," Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Not only gummy bears, gummy worms, gummy pizza, basically gummy everything," Lucy said.

"Well you always get the lollipops and sherbert," Gray shot back, standing up for his pride.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing, Gray." Lucy said, "I actually think it's cute."

"I'm a man, I'm not _cute._" Erza saw where this was going and quietly left their conversation, going back to Fairy Hills to pack.

"Would you prefer if I said handsome?" Lucy asked

"A little bit more, but it makes me sound like some stuffy prince."

"What would you like then, Prince Gray?"

"I don't know, Princess Lucy." Lucy flushed.

"Hot? Stunning? Beautiful?" she fired off suggestions. "Gorgeous? Pretty? Sweet?"

"What about sexy?" Gray asked.

Lucy sighed, "We've been over this Gray."

"But you never really answered," he said. "And call me Prince Gray."

"Prince Gray, may you please put on your clothes?"

"Nice try, Princess Lucy, but I'm already wearing them. I guess if you don't want to say I'm sexy, I could settle for hot."

"I'm never going to give you a compliment again."

"But I love Princess Lucy's comments."

"Stop calling me that!"

* * *

Erza finished packing and went outside only to be greeted by Jellal, in his cape, making others stare.

"What are you doing here?" she asked surprised.

"We didn't arrange a meeting place," he said. And the added, "That is quite a lot of luggage."

Jellal fished around in his pokets and took something out, "I've bought the tickets already."

"I told you not to buy anything for me," she grumbled.

"I disobeyed you," Jellal laughed. "I should at least buy your ticket. You did something for all of us anyway."

"What?" she asked.

Jellal's face was suddenly looking over Erza's. He said softly, "Joining Crime Sorciere. That was a favour for all of us."

Erza pushed him back, "Stop joking."

"I wasn't joking."

"Anyway! When does the train board?"

Jellal checked his watched, "Now."

"You idiot!" Jellal grabbed Erza's hand and used Meteor to make them travel faster.

They made it just in time. They boarded and took 1 cabin for themselves. They sat down next to each other on one seat and put Erza's bags on the seat opposite them.

"Say, where is the dark guild anyway?" Erza asked.

"Freesia," he replied.

"Freesia! That's like halfway across Fiore!"

"Yeah, the trip will take 7 hours," Jellal replied calmly.

"That's so long," Erza drooped.

Secretly, Jellal made some of the plan for this mission. He would pick up Erza at Fairy Hills, and they would meet Ultear and Meredy at Freesia. He wanted to spend time with her, **alone. **He was also excited to try out Ultear's plan. He would never tell her that though.

And in those 7 hours, he wanted to ask her something, "What did Meredy say to you in that Cake Shop anyway?" He had asked Meredy but she had refused to answer.

Erza stifled a laugh before deepining her voice, "Did you know I created her surname? Creative, huh?"

Jellal flushed, "I did not! She made it up!"

"Aww, it was kinda...cute."

"I'm a man! I'm not cute!"

"This sounds awfully familiar," Erza said.

"Gray and Lucy, right?" Jellal said, "They've been like that for ages."

Erza blinked, "I didn't realise until after Tenrou Island."

"And Lucy said you're an expert at love."

"Have you been stalking me?"

Jellal averted his eyes."Only b-before we wanted you to j-join. We h-had to see if you were g-good enough," Jellal stammered.

"You were never good at lying," Erza said.

Jellal huffed and looked out of the window.

He stayed like that for a while, until he felt a head drop on his shoulder.

Erza had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He felt his face heating up when he saw her sleeping face.

_She looks so innocent. I guess sleeping's the only way for her to relax, _he told himself.

He eventually nodded off and fell asleep, his head supported by hers.

* * *

"This train has reached it's destination. If this is your stop, please depart."

"Holy Shit!" Jellal jerked up.

He gently shook Erza awake, "Erza, come on."

She wouldn't budge. Suddenly, an ida came into his head. He tickled her.

Erza burst out laughing, swatting his hands away, "stop," she mumbled between laughter, "I'll get up."

She stood up tiredly, "Where we going?"

"We're staying in a hotel. We're going to check that out first. It's pretty late, so we'll stay there for the night, then go the guild. I'll fill you in on the details on the way."

"You better, I don't even know the name."

They started walking, Jellal said, "Our plan is to infiltrate, and when they go attack someone, we turn against them. Simple."

"But what are they called?"

"You know them. Death's Head Caucus."

"The one with Ikuruga!" she gasped.

"yeah, but she and her team quit once you defeated her," he grinned, "Couldn't face the embarrassment."

"That is so sad," Erza said. "I ruined her life."

"Nah, you didn't. Though no one knows where they are now. And they've gotten new members, even a new master."

They stopped outside a hotel.

"Freesia Hotel, how creative," Erza said sarcastically.

Jellal snorted, "Can't blame them, it's the only hotel in this town."

Meredy and Ultear ran outside. Well, Meredy did and Ultear walked behind her.

"What took you so long?" Meredy questioned.

"The train ride takes 7 hours," Jellal sighed.

"You sure you guys didn't do anything else? _Anything?_" Ultear eyed them teasingly.

"NO!" Jellal shouted.

"Bit frustrated, are we?" Ultear teased.

"Shut up," Jelllal said. "Let's go check out the room."

"Rooms," Ultear corrected. "Meredy and I are sharing one and you and Erza are."

Erza immediately blushed.

"Ultear," Jellal said warningly, "Go get another room. You're paying."

"Fine then," Ultear said grudgingly, "Erza can room with us. As long as you're still paying."

"But we wanted her with you," Meredy grumbled. "You would've liked it."

He blushed.

They separated and saw their rooms. Each room had 2 beds, a couch, 1 bathroom and a mini kitchen.

"I'll take the couch," Erza announced, dragging her bags next to it.

Jellal barged into the room, "There's only 2 beds!" he exlaimed.

Ultear smirked, "Yes?"

Jellal no longer paid attention to her and looked at Erza, "Umm, if you want, you can, er... Room with me?"

Erza shrugged, "Okay."

She took her bags and bought them across the hall. She went into his room, which was the exact same as Ultear's.

"I swear she planned this," Jellal muttered.

Erza glanced back at him before running to jump on the bed, "So what's the plan?" she asked once she calmed down. "For me."

"You're changing your name, but you're appearance isn't necessary because the members won't remember you from 7 years ago. Just wear different clothes," he replied. He said under his voice, "I don't want you to change your hair colour."

However, Erza didn't hear and inspected the room, making Jellal stand awkwardly. She was looking under beds, inside pots and inside drawers.

"It's safe," she said. Jellal sweatdropped, but didn't say anything.

"I am going downstairs for dinner," she said, requipping into a strapless gown. It was black, and contrasted beautifully with her hair, at least Jellal thought so. He would've admired her more, if Ultear and Meredy hadn't come in.

"Hey guys, we're going downstairs for foo- Erza, I don't the dinner's is that fancy," Ultear said.

Erza requipped into a hoodie and jeans.

"Now it's too casual," Jellal objected. Ultear shot him a glare.

Erza sighed and requipped into a simple purple dress.

"Perfect," Meredy said.

Erza walked out, "Let's go down already. They might have souffle."

They all grinned.

* * *

Lucy was at the bar counter with Mirajane. She had her head lying on the wood, "Mira..."

"Yes?" Mirajane replied.

"Do have any ice-cream?" she asked.

"Why ice-cream? Don't you usually want frozen yogurt?" A lightbulb went off in Mira's brain. "That's just it! You've been influenced by Gray!"

"I just wanted an ice-cream," Lucy mumbled.

"Luce, it's late. I think you should be going home," Gray appeared.

"Natsu's going to be there," she said, "If you hadn't noticed, I'm kinda mad at him."

"And the idiot doesn't know why," Gray said. He pitied Natsu. He would hate to make Lucy mad.

Lucy nodded.

"Come on Lucy, let's go home." Gray pulled Lucy off the seat and they walked off.

"So you refer to my apartment as 'home' now?"

"It sorta is like a second home to all of us, you know."

"Much to my annoyance."

"Only because Natsu eats your lolly stashes."

Lucy started counting on her fingers, "Happy scratches my walls, Natsu eats my stuff, you enter my bathroom when I'm in it, and you all make a total mess."

Gray chuckled in response, "Oops."

"Yeah, 'oops'. Why are you coming with me anyway?"

"I need my coat, and I'll fight Natsu off you."

"How gallant. Like a knight."

"But I'm your prince."

"Repeating," Lucy said.

"And you're my princess," Gray kneeled and kissed the back of her hand.

"You're supposed to do that when you first see me."

He stood back up, "Technicalities, princess."

"...You sound like Loke."

"Do not compare me with him."

"You both call me Princess."

"Except he's a lion, and I'm a prince."

"Gra-"

"Wait. Let me rephrase that. He's a lion and I'm _your _prince."

"Gray, what are you trying to say?"

"I like you Lucy, ever since the moment I met you, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes!" Lucy exclaimed.

"That was a bit over the top," Loke commented, materializing

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

After all of Crime Sorciere said goodbye, they retreated to their rooms. Once Erza was comfortable in her bed, questions started bothering her.

"Jellal."

"Hmm?"

"Why did you choose me to join?"

"Because you're strong."

"That's not the reason."

"It is."

"It's Meredy's and Ultear's reason, not yours."

Jellal laughed quietly, "You can see right through me."

"So what is it?"

"Guess."

Over the next couple of minutes, Erza suggested things but Jellal denied them. Eventually the sleepiness took over.

Jellal was still awake.

He stared at the ceiling in silence.

"It's because I missed you."

"Missed you too," Erza mumbled.

Jellal's eyes widened, _She didn't just hear that, did she?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Late again, I know. I might actually start updating once or twice a week now. My teacher thinks that we're not doing enough homework because an idiot skipped doing it. So now I have homework everyday of the week instead of just Monday.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, I would so make each chapter come out faster. Alas, it belongs to Hiro Mashima who enjoys us moaning and groaning because his new chapter has a HUGE cliffhanger and we have to wait one WHOLE week to read the next. Only for him to drop another bomb on us. **

She was bored.

Yes, Erza, the great Titania, was bored.

All because Jellal was taking too long to shower.

She had already gone and had changed into tight white T-shirt with blue jeans. She didn't like it. It felt too light compared to her normal armour. She also wore her hair up in a loose ponytail, out of her face, also effectively helping her appearance change.

She was playing card with herself, which was quite boring. Ultear and Meredy had yet to wake up, or they'd just secluded themselves to their room because they wouldn't come out.

Finally, Jellal came out. Problem was, he didn't have a shirt. And it seemed he hadn't dried himself properly either, which didn't help Erza.

She busied herself with the cards.

"Are you ready yet?" Erza tried to keep the impatience out of her voice, but failed, making it seem rude.

"Yeah," Jellal slipped his shirt on. "Let's go get Meredy."

"What about Ultear?"

"She does an investigative thingy before each mission."

"Oh," Erza felt bad for assuming she was asleep.

They exited their room, walked across the hallway and knocked on the door.

"I'm coming!"

Meredy opened the door, "Yes?"

"We're going."

"One step ahead of you," Meredy handed Erza a plate with a slice of cake with a fork.

"Thanks!" Erza took the plate and dug in, still walking with Meredy and Jellal.

"This the kind of job that we make up as we go, we usually have script we go by," Jellal told Erza.

"It's a pain, really," Meredy said. "But once in a while, we get a job like this."

"And then there's the Grand Magic Games," Jellal added.

"The what?" Erza's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"It's basically an annual tournament to see the strongest guild in Fiore," Meredy explained.

"And the top guild's Fairy Tail, right?"

"No, it's a guild named Sabertooth," Jellal told her quietly.

"Then it's Fairy Tail?"

"No," Meredy said. "Fairy Tail is... last."

"What?!" Erza exclaimed. That couldn't be possible. Fairy Tail was Fairy Tail, the most destructive guild in all of Fiore. Each member could destroy half a town. Combine them together, you've got the rightfully strongest guild, as well as a list of complaints written to Master Makarov.

"All the stronger ones were in Tenroujima Island," Jellal reminded her.

"Does Master know?" Erza asked.

"I already told him," Jellal replied. "He's hyped."

"We're going to win it. When is it?"

"In three months time," Meredy replied.

"We can still train! If we do it everyday, we'll be as strong as them!" She stopped and put her fist up in determination.

Jellal and Meredy continued walking.

She hurried next to them.

"Yes, well, is there any main points we have to remember?"

"Meredy is Ultear's adoptive daughter, you're my 'girlfriend', and we're evil. That's it," Jellal said. "These people can be pretty friendly, but they're all ruthless. Remember that."

"Yes sir!" Meredy saluted.

"I was talking to Erza, but good to know you were listening too." Jellal stopped, and making the others, "Here."

He threw a package at Erza who caught it, surprised. She opened, and found a cape, the exact same as theirs.

"Welcome to the guild," Jellal smiled.

Erza was speechless for a while. When she could speak, she said, "Does that mean I was never a part of Crime Sorciere until I got a cape?"

Jellal sighed and kept walking.

Erza persisted, "Seriously?"

Meredy said, "You joined the guild a couple of days ago, but the cape is just Jellal's way of saying he lliiiiiiiikes you."

"Meredy!" Jellal hissed.

"Well, you've all got one, so I don't think that's it," Erza said. "Wait... You didn't buy this, did you?"

"No," Jellal shook his head. "Ultear made it."

Erza fastened the cloak around her, "I'll thank her later."

* * *

"The 5th guild master of Fairy Tail is... Gildarts Clive!"

The curtain opened revealing Mirajane.

"Mira?" Makarov's eyes bugged out.

Mirajane smiled, "Gildarts left a note!" She handed it to him.

_Master, as well as everyone in the guild,  
I__'m sorry, but I'm not cut out to be a 'master.'  
__However, I will take the opportunity to make two changes as guild master  
__The first: Accept Laxus as a member again._

Fried was crying streams of tears, "Gildarts... What a great guy!"

"Now the Raijinshuu is complete again!" Bickslow grinned.

Evergreen hugged Laxus's arm. Laxus was shocked.

_The second: I appoint Makarov Dreyar as the 6th master of Fairy Tail._

"Me again!?" Makarov shrieked. "That's it! I will never retire!" He threw the note on the ground and stomped on it, making everyone laugh.

Meanwhile, Lucy, Gray and their friends were talking at their table.

"Master has it so hard," Lucy yawned. She was tired because she had stayed up all night writing her novel. Bad thing was, when she planned to start sleeping, Natsu and Happy popped out and told her to start training so they can beat Max.

"Why?" Levy had her legs on the seat with a book propped upon her knee. She was intently reading it in between talking to her friends and eating chips.

"Because we destroy all these villages and he has to make up excuses for it. And then when he wants to retire, he can't because no one wants to take his position," Lucy said.

"True," Lisanna said. "But he can handle it. At least for the next couple of years."

"Master's getting old," Natsu smiled. "Maybe I could be guild master!"

"Not if you can't even be an S-class mage. You can't even beat Erza," Gray snorted.

"Not my fault. That woman's a BEAST!" he exclaimed, shivering.

"That can be the only thing we agree on, Salamander," Gajeel nodded. He too, was sitting at their table. He normally wouldn't have bothered, but Levy was there.

"But you can't beat Gildarts, Laxus or Mirajane either, Ash Ass," Gray retorted.

Natsu stood up and smashed his head against Gray's, "Are you saying I'm weak, Icicle?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Volcano," Gray challenged.

"Hey! Don't leave me out!" Gajeel bolted up, wanting to join in.

"Shut it, tin can," the two replied in unison, and punched him away.

"Why, you..."

Lucy, Levy and Lisanna sighed, "Those three..."

Master cleared his throat, "Fairy Tail! For those of the S-class trials, someone has informed me of something called the Grand Magic Games..."

* * *

"You guys ready?"

"Yup!"

Ultear had met up with Meredy, Jellal and Erza so now all of Crime Sorciere were outside Death's Head Caucus's base. Jellal and Erza had also convinced Ultear to drop their relationship plan, much to her disappointment. But she'd already come up with another plan.

It was an abandoned warehouse, but Ultear had said earlier it did not seem so much abandoned on the inside. It's interior was very fancy, with chandeliers and everything. There was a bar on one side but even that managed to blend with the fancy theme. However, the people inside were very much different to its design. They weren't fancy, but they weren't slobs. They weren't loud like Fairy Tail (but which guild is?) but they weren't silent. They chatted quietly, and it seemed they were close.

"Death's Head Caucus," Jellal stepped in.

Thinking, they were the enemy, a water attack was thrown his way.

In a flash, Erza blocked it with her Sea Empress armour.

Jellal nodded as a thanks and Erza requipped back into her ordinary clothes. Jellal bought her closer to him before flipping his hood down, "Jellal Fernandes."

The attacker recognised him and fumbled, "I-I'm so s-sorry." She was rather young, 15 or so. She had purple hair and eyes. Erza remembered her attack earlier and noted it was weak, but had lot of potential.

Jellal didn't gratify her with a response.

Ultear pulled her hood down, as did Meredy, "Ultear and Meredy. Former members of Grimoire Heart."

"If you don't mind me asking, who is the person beside you, Jellal-sama?" A average aged man questioned. He had a squeaky voice, unexpected, especially since he had a muscular build.

"Knightwalker," Erza answered stonily. "Whether that is my first name or surname does not matter. You refer to me as Knightwalker."

Jellal continued coldly. "Do not question her ties, she is with us, and her magic power rivals mine. She has aided me in many of my creations, like the Tower of Heaven."

"What is your business here?" Another lady asked. By the sound of her voice, Erza guessed she was rather sophisticated, she looked like she couldn't care less about the arrival of Crime Sorciere.

"We want to join," Meredy said bluntly.

"Any specific reason?"

"Too much moving around. And we haven't done an assassination job in a long time. Right, guys?" Meredy looked at them.

Ultear nodded.

The 15 year old lifted up the stamp, "Where?"

Ultear held out her hand, "If you don't mind, we would like to do it ourselves."

"O-of course," she handed it to Ultear.

She stamped one on herself, Jellal and Meredy but when it came to Erza, she stopped.

"Do you have a private room? Knightwalker wants hers _somewhere_," she emphasised.

Erza flushed in embarrassment but it was concealed by the hood's shadow.

The man led them into a back room.

Once he'd closed the door, Ultear started whispering, rushed, "This stamp I switched earlier on. It makes sure you don't actually become a part of the guild. Upper back, okay?"

Erza bit her lip, then nodded.

Ultear stamped it, they waited a bit longer, and then exited.

"All good?" the lady asked, a bit braver.

"All good," Ultear affirmed, handing the stamp back.

"Who is your guild master?" Erza asked, quietly.

"That would be me," a male of 20 stood up. He had black hair and was also wearing rather dark clothes. Because of his dark clothes, his blue eyes seemed to shine, "Daichi Sato, but you can call me Daichi."

"Good to know," Erza said quietly.

"Reveal yourself."

"No."

"It's a command. If you want to stay in this guild. Reveal yourself," he repeated.

Erza took off her cape.

Daichi walked around her, inspecting.

"What a lovely woman," he mused. "I apologise if I startled you earlier. I honestly did not intend to."

Erza blinked, "It is fine."

"Would you be interested, by any chance, in dinner with m-"

"She's my fiancée," Jellal glared at Daichi as if daring him to say otherwise. As he said this, he sent Erza a message using his telepathy, _Just go with it. _"If you do not mind, please refrain from flirting."

"Very well, Jellal-san."

_Jellal-san? _Erza thought, _If he doesn't address him as Jellal-sama then that means Daichi's rather powerful._

She didn't know but Jellal still had a telepathic connection. She jumped when he spoke in her head,

_Or he was just cocky. I don't like him, _Jellal still glared at Daichi and he glared back.

Erza resisted the urge to roll her eyes, _I could tell that by the way you spoke to him. Why did you say I was your fiancée?_

_You can't get close to him. He's a supporter of Zeref. Remember that, _he still didn't break his concentration.

_But you didn't have to tell them I was your fiancée. Just say I'm unavailable. And you didn't have to tell the whole guild, _Erza thought back. She didn't mind, but she wanted to know why.

_I told the whole guild because if I did otherwise, everyone would ask you out. And if I said you were 'unavailabe', they wouldn't believe it, _Now Jellal was pushing it. He knew, that Erza knew, that he was lying. Even so, Erza dropped it and eventually, Jellal dropped the connection.

After a while, Daichi broke his eye contact, "May I ask, when is the wedding?"

"We plan to settle down first. Maybe in the next couple of months," Erza replied. She kept her voice low, she didn't want to stand out in the already quiet atmosphere. She didn't like being loud, anyway. Not in front of people she wasn't familiar with.

"That's delightful," Daichi replied, with a hint of sarcasm.

Jellal paid no attention to him and instead walked towards the bar. Erza followed him but Ultear and Meredy went to say hi to the other members.

On the inside, Jellal was fuming. _How dare he! He'd just met Erza for 3 seconds, and then asked her out! What a bastard! _

From his side, Erza quietly observed him. She noted how his breathing changed from deep and slow to fast, shallow and erratic.

Jellal sat at the counter and Erza slid in next to him.

She waved over the barmaid who was a brunette, and was quite pretty, though was nothing compared to Mira. "DO you have anything strawberry?"

"I'm afraid not, Knightwalker. All our members prefer chocolate."

If Jellal was his normal self, he would've grinned in victory. But he was not, and evil eyed Ichirou from across the room.

The barmaid walked away and Erza looked at him.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

Jellal gritted his teeth, "I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"He's from a _dark _guild, Erza!" Jellal hissed. "You shouldn't have attracted him with your looks."

"That's rather unreasonable because I was wearing a cape before he ordered me to take it off. Wait. Did you just imply i'm pretty?"

"Well, yeah." Jellal blushed. "I mean, for a girl."

Erza assumed his last comment as something else, "Are you, er, interested in, um, guys?"

"What? No!" Jellal exclaimed. Realising his volume, he muttered, "Um, no. I just said the last bit because... I wasn't thinking right. Uh, yeah."

"Oh, okay." Erza paused, "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Great," Erza said in relief.

They sat in silence.

"Apparently chocolate's more 'prefered' than strawberry," Jellal teased.

"Of course it isn't that was just their way of saying they'd run out."

"Yeah right."

* * *

"We will be going training for three months. Pack your bags everybody," Makarov's voice boomed out, vibrating the walls in the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"Alright! This is going to be so much fun! I'm going to beat you, Stripper!" Natsu shouted, excited.

"Not if I'm already ahead, Hot Head," Gray relied coolly.

"Exhibitionist!"

"Lava Brain!"

"Cold Pants!"

"What kind of an insult is that, Flame Brain?"

"A good one, Popsicle!"

Lucy groaned, "Erza just has to be on a mission when they fight."

"You can control them, can't you, Lu-chan?" Levy inquired

Lucy chuckled sheepishly, "I feel bad for yelling at Gray."

"And not for Natsu?" Lisanna smiled.

"Of course she does. Just mostly Gray, right Lu-chan?" Levy elbowed Lucy suggestively.

"Levy-chan!"

"How are you going with Gajeel, Levy?" Lisanna asked.

"The same as ever," Levy sighed dejected. "I hink he doesn't feel the same."

"Oh he does," Gray chimed in. "He's always talking about 'shrimp'."

"Aww, he's has a pet name for you," Lucy squealed.

"It's not a pet name!" Levy protested. "It's annoying."

"But cute," Lisanna pursed her lips, "Do you have one, Lucy?"

"Of course she does," Gray answered. "Princess."

"So CUTE!" Levy and Lisanna fangirled.

"Gray! Stop it!" Lucy shouted

"Whatever you say, Princess," he smiled cheekily.

"Oh, you'll regret that," Lucy smiled deviously, "Prince."

"Oh will I?"

"Oh yes you will."

"What's happening to me then?"

"You're officially banned from entering my apartment 'till the end of the week."

"Anything but that." Gray pleaded, "Princess, please! I apologise fervently."

"Have to do a bit more than that."

"Please, Princess Lucy?" He tipped her chin gently upwards. Before she could say anything, her lips were met with his. It was a short kiss, but that did not mean she didn't enjoy it. It was her first, and until then she had not known what she was missing! It was incredible. She couldn't think of any other word.

Wild cheers were in the guild, and Mirajane was literally going around saying, "See them? I helped them get together." She was probably making wedding plans already.

When Lucy could think again, she spoke,

"How could I say no?"

5 steps away from the action stood Natsu and Lisanna. Lisanna sighed, "Our first kiss was not romantic ike that at all."

"It was in the rain, so that counts for romance points, right?" Natsu asked

Lisanna went on her tiptoes and kissed Natsu on the cheek, "Sure."

"I'm a romance master!" Natsu bragged.

"Let me finish," Lisanna said, "It was in the rain, that could be a pro. But, we were soaking wet, you refused to warm me up afterwards, and we were on a mission. So, not so much romance master now, are we?"

"Well, I'm still better than Gray. He basically only kissed Lucy because he wanted permission to enter her apartment. Otherwise, he would've done that half a year later."

Gray overheard their conversation, "Shut up, you idiot!"

Lisanna giggled, "Well, I suppose that's true."

"PARTY!" Half the guild shouted.

"What happened to packing the bags?" Makarov sobbed. "My out of control guild..."

**Yeah, added some stuff at the end. It was supposed to end at the Jerza bit but I thought it was turning into more of a Jerza fic than a GrayLu. So I added it in. Cya next time! Review please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fairy Tail.**

Erza sighed, content. She had just eaten a great dinner. Well, the greatness was at the end, although Ultear and Meredy would disagree.

Meredy loved the entrees. They were the smallest part, but they filled you up enough. There were so many to choose from, and all of them were light.

Ultear loved the main. It was the biggest part of the meal, the one with the biggest dish. The yummiest too, according to her.

Erza loved the dessert. There was strawberry cake. Need anyone say more?

And Jellal, he wouldn't dare pick, lest he angered the other two.

Either way, it would end painfully.

"What course was _your _favourite, Jellal?" They asked.

"I n-need a s-shower," he managed to squeak out and made his great escape.

Jellal Fernandes, arguably one of the most powerful mages in Fiore, was running from 3 _girls._

But Jellal wanted to live for the next decade, so he ran. _Fast._

* * *

"Gray," Lucy said, "When I said you were allowed in my flat, that didn't mean you could live here!"

Gray was lying on her bed, reading a book.

"And give me back my novel!" She screamed, reaching for it.

But Gray kept it away from her.

"Gray..." she whined, "I promised Levy-chan."

"Levy won't mind. I'm editing it too," he grinned.

'Lemme see," she reached for it again.

"Well, so far there haven't been any mistakes."

"Hah! I knew it! My grammar and spelling is perfect!" she boasted before turning serious, "Give me back my book."

Gray, knowing he had provoked a mad Lucy, handed the book back. He frowned, "I didn't even get to remember what page I was on."

"You know that's not my fault."

"Hey, Luce!" Natsu called from the window.

"Lucy!" Happy cried out happily **(Pun! But anyway, I've realised I've totally forgotten about Happy since chapter 1 and I felt really bad, so there's going to be more HappyxCarla)**

"Why's Gray on your bed?" Natsu pouted, "That's my spot."

"Not anymore, Ash for Brains. She's my girlfriend, so this is now my spot."

"What did you say, Popsicle?"

"You heard me."

"Guys, if you ruin my house, I will kill you," Lucy threatened.

They stepped apart quickly. Gray moved to a side of the bed where Lucy collapsed on the other.

"Lucy..." Happy drawled out. "Do you have any fish?"

"Yeah, there's one in the fridge."

"Thanks!" Happy flew to the kitchen. A few seconds later, he could be heard saying, "There's two... One for me and one for Carla! Smart thinking Lucy! It's actually good to use that brain once in a while, you see?"

"Happy, get back here!" But he was long gone, out the window.

"Stupid cat... Dinner... Fish... Not... Idiot... Today..." she was furious, visibly trying to keep her rage in check.

"Do you want to have dinner with me, Lucy?" Gray asked.

"No thanks, I think I'm eating with Levy at Fairy Hills tonight. Sorry," she apologised.

"Nah, its okay."

Lucy was mumbling angry things about the cat when Natsu asked, "What was that fish for then?"

"Happy's dinner," she replied. "But there's no point now, stupid cat."

"So you get dinner for Happy but not me?" Natsu stared at her, eyes wide, in mock hurt.

"There's a lighter on the kitchen table."

"Thanks Luce!" he disappeared through the door.

"What about me?" Gray asked.

"Hmmm... Food... Gray... Oh yeah! I've got Ice cream in the fridge!" she brightened.

"Why would you have ice cream? Frozen yogurt's nicer, or so you used to say," Gray said, "Or have I influenced you?"

"That's what Mira said!"

"But it's true isn't it?"

Lucy stood up and walked to the kitchen.

Gray returned to reading her novel. But not for long.

"NATSU! Don't light up everything I have!"

"But it makes more fire," he said innocently.

"So do trees. Out. And take the lighter with you."

"But Luce."

"No buts," she said firmly.

He pouted and walked out, glaring at Gray who smirked at him.

"WAIT!"she screamed. "Eat the rest of the fire!"

Natsu chuckled and walked out.

"GRAY! Help!"

Gray ran towards the fire and successfully put it out.

"My poor table cloths," Lucy sobbed, being comforted by Gray.

* * *

The next day, Erza woke up, met the rest of Crime Sorciere and walked to Death's Head Caucus. They were met with a surprise.

Almost all of the guild was standing, looking at them.

"Traitors," spat the muscular man.

"What?" Meredy faked confusion.

"You are not followers of Zeref-sama," sneered the sophisticated woman.

"One of my magics is Archive. You think I'll let someone join my guild without searching them up?" Ichirou scoffed. "Your evil deeds stopped 7 years ago. All of except Knightwalker. I couldn't find anything on you." He took a step closer to them. "You would think that if Jellal Fernandes proposed to someone it would be news. Unless he is no longer respecting Zeref-sama, meaning he is no longer on the dark side.

"However, Knightwalker could be the only one who's truly loyal to Zeref-sama."

_Just pretend you are, _Jellal sent a message to her.

"Yes." She lied, "I infiltrated their gang. And, somehow managed in the process to get Jellal to fall in love with me. Of course I said yes, but I was only using him."

Jellal's eyes were wide, but it wasn't all pretend. He couldn't believe how good of an actress Erza was. He even had to remind himself that she was faking.

Ichirou smirked, "It looks like you've just been dumped, Jellal-_san._"

Jellal's face was crestfallen. Erza winced at the realism.

"How about that offer?" Ichirou asked, winding an arm around Erza's waist.

_Attack him_, Erza thought on impulse.

Her fist snuck out and hit him on the cheek.

Before she could apologise, the rest of Crime Sorciere backed her up by attacking the rest.

Suddenly there were sense links everywhere, Ultear was throwing orbs and Jellal was shooting beams everywhere.

Distracted by the sight, Erza was soon in the grip of Ichirou. One of his arms was around her neck, the other around her stomach.

"Lying, Knightwalker. I don't like people who lie to me. They tend to get the worst punishment."

Seconds later, Erza emitted a curdled scream, making Jellal's blood run cold.

"Erza!" he shouted, making his way toward them with murderous glint in his eye. he shot a beam at Ichirou, but he took no damage, "Nullification."

Ichirou shocked Erza who gritted her teeth in resistance, trying her hardest not to show weakness.

"Erza, eh? Is that her real name?" he asked. "Tell me, Knightwalker. Did you lie to me about that too?"

Erza kneed Ichirou, "Fuck off."

Ichirou's jaw tightened and Erza bit down on her tongue. More and more injuries were appearing on her body and she was now covered in cuts and bruises.

Erza panted, "Magic... Invisible... Everything..."

"What?" Jellal stopped, trying to match the clues together. "His magic is invisibility and is doing everything to you?" Just the thought infuriated him. What Ichirou would be doing with Erza right now... He had shown interest in her after all.

"No," Erza puffed. "Magic...is...Everything."

"He can do everything, but it's invisible?" he guessed.

"Yeah." She then screamed, louder than before. She was now tired, but refused to not struggle out of his hands. Her attemps were in vain, and didn't do anything.

"So you can't see it?" he asked, "At all?"

"Not... exactly..."

Ultear and Meredy cast worried glances at them, but were too busy to help. They hadn't even taken out half of the members and they could feel their magic draining.

"Sleep," Jellal intoned. The guild collapsed, some snoring. All except Ichirou.

"Nullification," he smiled a sinister smile. "Want another shock, 'Knightwalker'?"

Erza smiled. Seconds later, swords appeared, all around them **(Picture what Erza did to Freed in episode 75, The 24 Hour Endurance Test)**

Ichirou's face had a worried look, which was quickly replaced by a cocky one, "I can just nullify it."

"Go ahead." Erza directed all of the swords at Ichirou, who furrowedd his eyebrows in concentration.

He smiled, "Told you so."

"Yes you did," Erza's voice said, "But that wasn't my plan."

She was standing next to Jellal, who had a worried look on his face, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Erza smiled. "He has a weakness. When he concetrates on something, he doesn't pay attention to anything else. His grip loosened when he casted the Nullification spell. That's how I got out of it."

"It's still not going to be easier to defeat him," Ultear called out.

"I know," Erza called back. "But I've got a plan."

"I'm right here," Ichirou said, pissed.

"Shut up," Jellal and Erza said in a monotone.

Erza asked, "Your magic is Heavenly Body magic, right?" At Jellal's nod she continued, "Then use Sparkle dust or something when he attacks so you can see the invisible stuff."

"It's not called Sparkle dust," Jellal bristled.

"Fairy Dust?"

"Just call it... Sparkle dust's okay."

"Are we going to fight?" Ichirou was impatient

"Throw the sparklies," Erza instructed. "Now."

On her command, Jellal throw the sparkle dust.

"Sparklies," he grumbled.

The gold specks covered the entire view in front of them except for a few figures that strangely resembled... fire.

Erza requipped into her Flame Empress armour with 1 Sea Empress sword.

She blocked the attack with her Flame sword, and sent a water attack Ichirou's way. The water sliced at his skin, making new cuts.

He took the hit, which confused Erza, "That wasn't supposed to work."

Then it clicked, "You have the same weaknesses your magic does."

Ichirou didn't reply.

"Sparklies!"

Jellal threw more, revealing vines crawling accross the floor towards them. The leaves had sharp tips, obviously supposed to cut someone.

Still in her Flame Empress Armour, Erza switched her Sea Empress sword with another Flame Empress one. She sent a fireball at the vines, and then sent a slash of fire at Ichirou.

He was covered in burns, and his clothes and the tips of his hair were singed.

Ichirou cocked his head, "A challenge? Don't get those often."

Huge gusts of wind blew in the room, so strong they almost knocked Jellal over. Meredy was holding on to Ultear, who was holding onto a tree she made.

Erza stood her ground.

Meredy screamed over the wind, "What the hell is the opposite of wind?!"

"Earth I'm pretty sure!" Ultear yelled.

"I don't have an armour for that!" Erza shouted.

"Conjure up rocks or something, Ultear!" Jellal roared

Large boulders appeared on top of Ichirou, trapping him from doing anything. The wind stopped.

The boulders vanished.

"He's dead," Mredy announced.

Erza stopped, "What?" She rushed to his side, "Wait, no. He still has a pulse."

"Gotcha."

"Just ignore her," Jellal told Erza, "She does it on every job."

"Meredy," Erza said quietly. "Death isn't a joke."

Jellal looked at Erza, knowing what she was thinking. _Grandpa Rob, Simon..._

"Well, how does the council know they've been disbanded?" Erza asked.

Jellal grinned, "Pigeon."

* * *

Crime Sorciere had packed and had left the hotel. Ultear and Meredy had given Jellal the important job of escorting Erza home (again). Apparently, she might not

be stable enough with all her injuries. Or so they said.

Erza and Jellal knew they were up to something, but they didn't complain.

Erza had ditched her hood and left it in her bag, but Jellal kept his.

They had slept, yet agin on the trip home but luckily, they didn't wake up the same way.

They walked off the platform together in silence.

"Mission complete," Erza started, breaking the silence.

"Yup," Jellal chuckled,"Sure was fun"

"Yeah," she laughed.

"That Ichirou dude was a creep though," he stared at the floor.

"So freaky," she grinned. "A flirt too."

"Are you okay?" Jellal asked suddenly. "He didn't do...anything to you, did he?"

"You mean other than torturing me?" Seeing Jellal wince, she continued, "Just joking. I'm okay."

"Good," he exhaled. "I was so worried that he'd hurt you bad. I... I should've helped."

"You did."

"No I didn't! I just stood there!"

"No. You helped us. Sparklies, remember?" she smiled.

Jellal cracked a grin, "Oh yeah. And it's Sparkle dust. Never Sparklies."

"It's shorter," she protested.

"Doesn't matter."

"Aww."

They were now outside Fairy Hills.

"When's the next job?" Erza asked.

"Next week," he replied.

"See you then," she waved and walked through the gates.

Once he'd gone, Lucy and Levy rushed out. "Who was that?" Lucy asked.

"A hooded, mysterious lover?" Levy questioned.

"Maybe lover is a bit too much, Levy-chan."

"Do you think so, Lu-chan?"

They both burst out laughing, making Erza stare. She was surprise the rest of Fairy Hill's inhabitants hadn't come out to see what the commotion was.

"But who is he?" Levy persisted.

"Please don't tell me you're in a relationship with him, I said I'd make you fall in love with someone," Lucy said.

"That's a bit greedy Lu-chan. Erza should be able to find love by herself."

"But I wanted to matchmake like Mira for once."

"Guys, hold up," Erza interrupted. "That was just the client. And he was just walking me home because... he's a nice person."

"So no interest at all?" Lucy and Levy asked, diappointed.

"Not at all."

"Aww."

Lucy said, "Anyway, Erza, you have to pack, we're going to the beach to train for the Grand Magic Games. That's a tourna-"

"I know, Master explained it to me. I've got my bags ready. Do you think I could come back in 1 week, just to check up on things?"

Lucy was puzzled, "I don't know why you'd want to, but if your power's grown a lot, then I guess so?" It came out more like a question.

"Good then, I'll come back in a week."

* * *

"Princess, the Celestial Spirit World's in danger. You and your friends are the only one that can save them."

* * *

"One day in the Celestial Spirit world is 3 months in Earthland."

_That means... I missed my meeting with Jellal._

**Last part was crap, coz it's late and I'm tired and my brain never works when I am. But I had to post this chapter so yeah.**

**Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I AM SO SORRY! I forgot about this for a week because I was excited about my school camp. And then I went on camp...**

**This is also quite short. Sorry!**

**From now on it'll be kind of following the canon storyline (with a few quirks). but I'm too lazy to read the whole arc again so I'm ust going to write what I remember. My memory's pretty good, I should remember the main parts, but don't bother correcting me if I don't write stuff word for word, coz I already know. But any other mistakes... Carry on!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, it wouldn't be as awesome. SO be glad I don't.**

Erza collapsed against a tree. So did the others, but for a different reason.

"Now the gap between me and Lily has grown again," Happy sobbed.

Wendy and Carla were shocked, "You actually cared about that?"

"Even now, It's not too late. We can train hard for the next 5 days," Erza had a fiery aura, "Steel yourselves! We are not going to sleep!"

Natsu also had a fiery aura, except with real fire, "Sounds good! I'm all fired up!"

"Let's start with running!" She waved at them to follow her. "Huh?" Erza looked up at pigeon with a letter. Her eyes widened.

Flashback

_"Well, how does the council know they've been disbanded?" Erza asked._

_Jellal grinned, "Pigeon."_

End

Happy grabbed the letter, "Let's see."

He read it out,

_"Dear Fairy Tail,  
__Come to the broken bridge on the hill."_

"Who do you think it is?" Natsu asked.

Erza had to bite her lip to stop her from smiling.

"I don't like the way it's ordering us around," Gray said.

"What should we do?" Wendy questioned.

"It sounds fishy," Carla spoke.

"No, let's go," Erza announced. "Well, you guys will, I'm checking something in Fairy Hills."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Lucy offered.

"No thank you," Erza declined.

After some talking, the rest of the group set off.

Erza requipped into her Soaring Armour and flew towards the bridge.

* * *

"Jellal?" Erza spoke once she'd reached there.

"Erza!" Jellal ducked under a swooping tree, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why would you think not?"

"You were gone for 3 months, and we worried. Jet and Droy said you were okay but I didn't believe them fully," he smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway, put on your cloak," Ultear instructed, "They'll be here any minute now."

Erza requipped.

"Since when could you do that?" Meredy asked.

"Activating my Second Origin gave me a lot more space to hold my stuff," she shrugged.

"But before that, we want to ask you if you can do something involving the Tournament..."

* * *

"There's someone over there, Lu-chan," Levy gasped.

"I knew we shouldn't have come!" she exclaimed. "If only Erza was here to fight them off."

"Don't worry, Luce. I'll protect you," Gray said.

"But what about the rest of us?" Jet screamed.

Crime Sorciere advanced towards them, Erza and Jellal in the middle with Ulear and Meredy behind them.

"Isn't that Erza's client?" Levy asked. "He's got the cape and all."

"They're..." Natsu trailed off.

"Thank you," They gripped onto their hoods, "for coming... Fairy Tail."

They flung the hoods back, revealing their faces.

"Erza?" Lucy squinted, as if she didn't believe it.

"And Jellal?" Gray added.

"So you don't count us, huh?" Ultear asked, "Gray."

"Juvia-chan!" Meredy squealed and leapt on Juvia

"Meredy..." Juvia was speechless.

"Ultear and Meredy broke me out of jail," Jellal explained.

"So you have a purpose to live for?" Wendy asked.

Jellal nodded, "We've created an independent guild, Crime Sorciere, that disbands dark guilds. The members all want to atone for the things they've done in the past. Well, except for Erza, she's just here to kick ass."

"Oh, surely she's not her _only _to kick ass," Ultear elbowed Meredy who giggled.

The Fairy Tail members' jaws dropped, "_Erza's _in Crime Sorciere?"

"I apologise for not telling you sooner but I was not permitted to do so," Erza bowed her head, "Please punch me."

"Nah," Gray shook his head.

"The Grand Magic Games is coming up," Ultear began. At the mention of it, the mages' heads drooped. She continued, "We need some spying done from the inside, which will be done by Erza. There is something dark about it, but we can only watch from the sidelines. In return, I can increase your magic, a 'power-up', if you will."

"So how does it work?" Lucy asked.

Minutes after Ultear explained it, all of them were withering on the floor in pain.

Jellal and Erza excused themselves and walked on the beach.

"I'm sorry," Erza said finally. "I had no idea it would be that long."

"It's okay." Moments later he added, "As long as you're safe."

They walked along silently, until Erza tripped over a tree roots. And it just happened to be near a cliff. She fell, but Jellal grabbed her hand at last-minute. It didn't help stop her and they both rolled down together. Jellal and Erza both tried stopping because they were rolling on top of each other but their attempts were in vain. At the bottom of the cliff, they stopped breathing heavily. Jellal was on top of Erza, and was looking at her, strained, trying to hold himself back. Erza stayed still and eyed him. She knew what he was doing, or trying to stop himself from doing.

She stayed silent, and it became harder for Jellal to restrain himself. He lowered his face over Erza's and kissed her. She returned it and sat up without breaking the kiss off.

Erza and Jellal stopped and stared at each other in shock.

Then they reached for each other again.

* * *

Back with Meredy and Ultear, they were watching the Fairy Tail wizards convulse in pain.

Ultear stared at Gray, "I can't believe that's the boy who beat me 7 years ago."

"Damn you, Ultear," Gray managed to say, wincing at the pain.

Ultear grinned in response.

"Where's Jellal and Erza?" Happy asked cutely, peering down at Ultear from the air.

"They're off doing _their own thing_," Ultear replied.

Meredy put in, "Better not disturb them for the next hour or two."

"Aww, but I don't like watching Natsu, Lucy, Gray and the others in pain."

"You could join them, if you like," she offered.

"No!"

"It doesn't _really _hurt," Ultear smiled creepily.

"Uh...yes it does," Lucy corrected. She release a scream seconds later.

"I'm going!" Happy announced.

"Happy..." Natsu whimpered, "Don't leave me..."

All he got for an answer was an 'Aye!' and the Happy was off.

Natsu was left to suffer all alone.

But Gray and Lucy had each other and were holding hands. Discreetely though, or else Happy would've teased them.

* * *

Jellal had left afterwards to sort some guild 'issues.' Erza was still walking along the beach when she ran into Happy.

"Finally done with your make-out session?" Happy sniggered. "And then he left."

With a stick he drew a broken heart on the sand.

Erza kicked him into space.

"Aye!"

But a tinge of red was still visible on her face.

**End! Please review if you enjoyed it. I would be grateful :).**


	8. Chapter 8

Fairy Tail was partying hardcore. Even for them.

Why? Master Makarov had just announced that he would tell them the teams the next day. So, like they do for anything, they decided to party. Crime Sorciere was granted permission to join in but they stood awkwardly at the back. Erza was talking animatedly with Jellal and Ultear and Meredy watched them, fascinated. Laxus's team wasn't back yet, and a certain manly man was feeling not as excited as the rest of Fairy Tail.

"A man can feel down once in a while."

His sisters were trying to cheer him up, and they did to some extent. As for the masters (Macao and Makarov), they were trying to get the mages to calm down because their rundown guild hall couldn't stand much party.

"Hey Luce," Natsu started. "Let's get a job. Lisanna said it's okay, and I don't care what the Ice Prick says."

"Hey!" Gray yelled.

"It'll only be a quick one. Just to get the money," Lisanna said

"You guys can go by yourselves. I'm tired," Lucy waved them off.

"I'll stay too," Gray sat down next to her.

Natsu and Lisanna went to the request board only to return seconds later with Natsu complaining about how here were no good missions.

Lucy was staring at the other end of the hall.

"You okay?" Gray asked, concerned. He craned his head trying to see what she was looking at.

"Mm, yeah," she replied. "I was just thinking about Jellal and Erza."

Instantly, Mirajane and Levy were next to them. "What about them?"

"Just how the 7-year gap affected their relationship," she answered.

Gray coughed, trying to muffle the words, "Their non-existent relationship."

All the girls threw him a glare and he shuddered.

"Jellal _is _27 now, right?" Mirajane asked.

Gray and Lucy nodded in affirmation.

"And Erza is still technically 19. Isn't the age gap too great?" Levy pointed out.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy exclaimed, aghast. "I would've thought my fellow bookworm would've known that age does not matter when love is involved! Jellal's and Erza's age issue is similar to your's and a _certain dragon slayer's _height difference anyway."

Levy blushed, "Back to the main point, the age is still a matter though, right?"

"No," Gray spoke up.

"Like, Master Bob is what?" Lucy said. "70? And he still hits on Gray and Natsu."

"I guess it's okay then. They truly belong together though." Levy said but her eyes had already wandered to the _certain dragon slayer._

"True love!" Mirajane fantasized.

"What?" Erza and Jellal questioned, walking up to the 4 mages.

"Erza!" Gray jumped. "And Jellal. Hi."

Jellal smiled, "Hi."

"What about true love?" Erza inquired impatiently.

"We were talking about you and"-Lucy cut Mira off.

"And cake!" Lucy laughed nervously.

Erza nodded seriously, "Indeed. I do love my cake. In fact, Mira, can you get me one?"

Mira nodded and dashed off.

"Okay!" Makarov boomed. "I'll tell you the team! Just stop fighting!"

"Yeah!" the mages cheered.

"In Team Fairy Tail is..."

"Erza Scarlet!"

The cheering grew louder with excitement and Jellal grinned at Erza. She smiled back and Levy and Lucy giggled at their cluelessness.

"Natsu Dragneel!"

The said man whooped in victory, then laughed, "Beat that Gray!"

"Gray Fullbuster!"

"I just did, Flame Brain!" Gray shouted back.

"But my name was called out before yours!"

"That doesn't mean anything!" An argument erupted, however Gray stayed seated next to Lucy. He instead resorted to yelling at Natsu.

"Lucy Heartfilia!"

Mages congratulated Lucy and she blushed in embarrassment, "M-me?"

But Gray and Natsu continued their fight. "It means I'm stronger!" Natsu puffed his chest out, proudly.

Gray growled before giving Lucy a peck on the cheek. "Good Job," he whispered. Lucy's blush intesified. He stood up, "You wanna fight?"

"Bring it!" Natsu covered himself in fire.

"And..."

All of Fairy Tail leant forward in anticipation. All except Gray and Natsu who were currently facing the wrath of Erza.

"Wendy Marvell!"

The young girl's eyes widened, "But I couldn't"-

"Have more faith, Wendy," Carla lectured.

She nodded meekly.

The recently-cheered-up Elfman sobbed, "A man wants to paticipate in the Grand Magic Games."

Next to him, Makarov shrieked, "Why are they going at it harder?!"

He thought for a moment, then shrugged, "Mira! Get me a beer!"

* * *

Erza sighed in boredom. She and the rest of Fairy Tail had arrived in Crocus hours earlier. As of now, her teammates had left her in Honey Bone Lodge. Natsu, Lisanna and Happy had gone to 'walk around'. Gray and Lucy too.

The doorbell rang and she went to answer it.

Outside her door stood the one and only Jellal Fernandes, still in a cape and all.

In shock she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"No questions tonight. Want to get dinner?" he offered, holding out a hand.

"...Sure," she took it.

Jellal grinned.

* * *

"Natsu!" Lisanna called, "Can we see what that crowd is looking at?"

They crawled through the crowd.

"Targeting your own comrades? You really are scum," they heard a voice.

"Huh?" Natsu came face to face with a blonde.

"Natsu-san?" he questioned.

"That's me."

"Cats?" Happy asked.

"OF course you stupid cat," a reddish brown cat answered.

"They can talk!" his eyes went wide.

"I shouldn't be here," Lisanna said.

"I heard that you're going in the Tournament. Is that true?" The blonde, who Natsu later learnt was Sting, asked.

"What's it to you?"

"Natsu Dragneel... The one dragon slayer that couldn't destroy a dragon...How can you be known as a dragon slayers?"

Natsu glared murderously at him.

"How pitiful. This guy, Rogue," Sting jabbed his thumb at the dark haired one, "used to respect Gajeel. I appreciated him as a fellow dragon slayer."

"You guys are dragon slayers?" Natsu asked.

"Of the best kind. We would've been able to beat Acnologia," he jeered.

"You can't say that, you've never seen him," Lisanna said.

"Yeah, that's true," Happy agreed.

"What a stupid cat," the cat said again.

The exceed in a frog costume spoke, "Lector is right!"

"It doesn't matter if we've seen him," Rogue said.

"We're better than you," Sting sneered.

Lector proceeded to explain about the generations of dragon slayers.

"Did your dragons disappear on the 7th of July X777?"Natsu asked.

"No," Rogue said.

"We killed our dragons," Sting smiled cruelly.

* * *

Lucy and Gray were walking through the brightly lit street, often dodging the occasional kid high on sugar.

Lucy was picking off candy floss and Gray, like always, was licking an icecream.

"Let's swap," Gray suggested.

"What flavour?"

"Chocolate."

Lucy handed hers to Gray and he to her.

"I love chocolate," Lucy licked her icecream.

"Indirect Kiss!" Out of nowhere, Bickslow's puppets appeared. "He lliiiikes her!"

"Shut up!" Gray and Lucy snapped.

"Is that a no? Aren't you supposed to like each other if you're boyfriend and girlfriend? Or maybe it's a harmless 'like'? Like the 'like' used to describe Natsu and Lucy's relationship?" Bickslow stuck his tongue out.

"Bickslow, go away," Gray stayed calm.

But on the inside, he was fuming.

* * *

Erza twirled spaghetti on her fork and chewed thoughtfully.

Once she'd swallowd, she asked, "Are Meredy and Ultear here?"

"I said no questions. Tonight's just to relax," he answered.

Unknown to both of them, said women were on the other side of the restaurant.

"Meredy-chan and Ultear-san?" Juvia asked.

"Juvia!" Meredy looked up. "What are you doing here?"

"Lyon-sama's taking Juvia on a date," she smiled and looked tenderly at Lyon back at their table. "Are you spying on Erza-san and Jellal-san?"

"Yes," Ultear whispered. "Don't tell."

"Juvia won't," she promised and went back to Lyon. Most of their conversation that night was about Erza and the 'Mysterious Hooded Person' sitting at the next table.

**End! Please review if you liked it or if you saw any mistakes!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything**

**I'm going to skip some bits in this chapter, but there is a difference in the teams. Read on to find out!**

Erza was silent, eating her spaghetti.

Jellal eyed her, before sighing and putting down his fork, "Okay. One question, no more."

She swallowed and thought, She had billions of questions, and felt like she couldn't pick just one. Erza finally asked, "When I was at Tenroujima Island, did you say something to me telepathically?"

"Yes," he said, "I called out to you. You couldn't lose." He then smiled, losing all seriousness, "Good job on that fight by the way."

Erza was speechless, "I... You..." She shook her head, finally managing to say, "I only won because of you."

"Is that so?"

"What happened to the question rule?" she asked.

"I don't know, what did?" he grinned.

Erza beamed before she noticed something, "Isn't that Juvia and Lyon?"

"No questions," Jellal groaned.

"It is!" She exclaimed. "Let's go say hi."

"Nah," Jellal answered lazily, "They're enjoying themselves."

"True," she admitted.

Juvia and Lyon were laughing, making others look at them. Lyon had already stripped he didn't care.

"That boy looks like he belongs in Fairy Tail," Jellal observed.

"No way," Erza stated. "He'd fight with Gray and there's already enough of that with Natsu, Gray and Gajeel."

Jellal chuckled and continued eating, enjoying his tiime with Erza.

* * *

Gray had his fists clenched at his sides, teeth gritted.

"Gray," Lucy waved from in front of him, "Are you okay? Is it because of Bickslow?"

His feelings overwhelmed him and he connected his lips with hers. Lucy's eyes widened but returned it, eyes closing. They engaged in an intense make out session until,

"Wendy! Don't watch!"

They separated, breathing heavily, looking at Carla.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves!" she lectured. "Wendy's only 12!"

Lucy was blushing but Gray ignored Carla, rolling his eyes.

"I-i'm sorry, Wendy," Lucy apologised.

"You ought to be!" Carla ranted. "In front of a child"-

"I'm sorry," Gray interrupted, voice layered with sarcasm, "Next time we'll do it somewhere more private."

Lucy gasped, "Gray!"

"It's okay Lucy-san, Gray-san, Carla's a bit strict," Wendy said.

"You don't say..." Gray muttered.

"Where are you going next? Lucy asked Wendy, ignoring Gray.

"Mercurius Castle," Carla stated, still angry with Gray.

"We'll go with you," she offered. "I'm just going to talk with Gray for a bit."

They walked off, and Lucy turned to Gray, "What's your problem?"

"Carla's too strict with Wendy. If that continues, Wendy's going to grow up boring," he lied.

Sure enough, Lucy saw through it, "You're lying."

Gray looked away and Lucy saw a tint of pink on his cheeks, "Fine. She interrupted us. Happy?"

She smiled sweetly, "Very." She grabbed Gray's hand, "Let's go to Mercurius Castle."

Unknown to her, Gray had lied, again, and the 'tint of pink on his cheeks' wasn't embarrassment, it was anger but it wasn't entirely directed at Carla.

* * *

"WENDY!" Gray and Lucy yelled. "CARLA!"

Wendy and Carla were currently passed out on the gardens of Mercurius Castle.

Gray and Lucy ran up to them and picked them up.

"Get them to Porlyusica!" Lucy said before running to said person's infirmary, Gray behind her.

* * *

Gray and Lucy waited at Honeybone Lodge, annoyed at the fact that the rest of the team were late.

When they did finally arrive, at 11:55, Lucy hurridly told them that they needed a replacement.

That's when Elfman was selcted, "MAN!"

Outside, a booming voice was heard, "Hello to all Grand Magic Games Contestants! The preliminary event is Sky Labyrinth. Go through the maze to the arena! Only the first 8 teams will be accepted." The giant pumpkin then proceeded to explain the rules.

Bridges connected the maze to the lodge.

"Let's go!" Elfman lifted them up and ran, "MAN!"

When they got in the labyrinth, Erza dusted herself off, "The arena is to the east so we will head that way."

Lucy pointed her thumb up, "I got this! Open! The gate of the Compass, Pyxis!"

The penguin appeared, "Piku!"

"East please!"

Pyxis pointed in the direction and Lucy mirrored its actions, "That way!"

"Thanks Lucy but I'd already bought a compass," Erza held it up.

Both spirit and mage went to a corner to sulk.

Gray walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Luce, you still did great. You too Pyxis," he patted Pyxis's head.

It brightened up and Lucy smiled before falling over due to the labyrinth turning. Gray held her hand to stop her from falling off the ledge.

"Thanks."

"Let's map out the labyrinth," Erza suggested, taking out a piece of paper and a pen.

She jotted her map down and Lucy looked it over, nodding.

Someone ran past and took it but in a flash Natsu had him thrown out of the maze and retrieved the map back.

"Huh?" behind the map was a copy of the man's map.

"They have their own maps, huh?" Lucy asked innocently, "Cool."

Behind her, her teammates had a glint in her eye and chuckled evilly.

* * *

"In 8th place... Fairy Tail! Natsu Dragneel, _the _Salamander! Erza Scarlet also known as Titania, the queen of the fairies! Lucy Heartfilia, the legendary celestial spirit mage! Gray Fullbuster, the swift Ice-make mage! And finally, Elfman Strauss, previously known as 'Beast Arm' Elfman!"

Boos surrounded the court as Erza, Lucy, Gray, Natsu and Elfman walked out. All of them frowned angrily but Natsu was ready to burst.

"In 7th place...Quatro Ceberus!"

5 men walked out proudly, "Wild...Four!"

Fairy Tail watched the teams go by without complaint, until it came to Raven Tail.

"A dark guild! Impossible," Makarov screeched.

The rest of the members voiced their complaints, until Chapati cleared the confusion.

"2nd is Fairy Tail B!"

"That's illegal! Two teams," the crowd shouted out.

"No it isn't," Yajima replied calmly, "2 teams from the same guild is actually legal."

"Laxus Dreyar! Mirajane Strauss! Juvia Lockser! Gajeel Redfox! And Mystogan!"

"What's the meaning of this, Gramps?" Natsu yelled. "Why do we have 2 teams?"

"The team that wins gets to order the other team around for a day!" Makarov shouted gleefully.

"Mystogan?" Erza questioned. Once she's inspected him closely, "Jellal?"

He bought his pointer finger to his lips, "Shh."

She was gaping throughout Sabertooth's introduction and the announcement of 'Hidden'.

When Gray came out, injured, she looked at him sympathetically but he just walked off, Lucy chasing him.

After kicking Lyon, Juvia decided she didn't want to be in the Games anymore, resulting in Lisanna joining Team B.

"Congrats!" Natsu cheered, kissing her.

"PDA man," Laxus scowled.

"The battle part! First up, Lucy Heartfilia vs Flare Corona!"

In the exits of the arena where Lucy was consoling Gray, she was contemplating whether or not to fight.

"Go," Gray ordered. "Fight your best."

She gave a quick nod before hugging him, "I'll win it."

She went into the arena and glared at her opponent.

When he was sure she had left, Gray punched the wall.

In the field, Lucy made the first move, "Taurus!"

Taurus appeared and slammed his double-edged axe down, Flare managing only to _just _dodge it.

"Scorpio!"

Scorpio shot a sandbeam at Flare who created a shield from her hair.

"Taurus! Use the sand!"

Sand wrapped itself around Taurus's axe, "Sandstorm Axe Aldebaran!" He striked her, and she was sent flying. In the air, her hair turned into a wolf.

"Cancer!"

The crab effortlessly cut her hair.

Flare, now on the ground, had her eyes wide open, "You... you... you cut MY HAIR!"

Her hair went underground, only to come up and wrap around Lucy's foot. It threw her up before smashing her against the ground.

She smirked, still peeved, "My hair can move any way I want."

"So can my Fleuve d'étoiles!" Lucy pulled her whip from her side and extending in to go around Flare's wrist. They pulled until they both sent each other spinning. Lucy stood up, confident and Flare looked up at her, worried, before regaining her confidence. She jerked her head towards the ground, and her hair went under.

_Where's it going to come up? _Lucy looked around wildly. She spotted a tendril next to Asuka.

"Asuk"-she was cut off by Flare's hair.

The crowd watched as Flare mercilessly beat Lucy until Natsu shouted, "I have good hearing!" He ran to Asuka and ripped the hair. "Chance!"

"Thanks," she took out Gemini's key. "Gemini!"

Gemi and Mini burst out, hitting Flare in the process.

"Turn into me!"

Gemini instantly imitated Lucy's appearance except in a towel.

"WHAT!?" Lucy shrieked. "Oh yeah, I worked on it when I got out of the shower last night."

"Are we going to do _that_?" Gemini asked. At her nod they continued, "We're not sure if we're ready yet."

"It doesn't matter." They held hands, back to back, eyes closed.

_Survey the Heaven, Open the Heaven..._  
_All the stars, far and wide..._  
_Show me thy appearance..._  
_With such shine._  
_O Tetrabiblos... _  
_I am the ruler of the stars..._  
_Aspect became complete..._  
_Open thy malevolent gate._  
_O 88 Stars of the heaven... _  
_Shine!_  
_**Urano Metria!**_

They open their eyes, and the spell stopped. Flare's face of terror sunk into a relieved one as she looked on the side, _Obra._

Gemini disappeared and Lucy dropped to the ground, exhausted but face full of tears.

"Raven Tail Flare Corona wins!"

Cheers resound the arena but Lucy continued sobbing. Natsu made a fist at his side but it was Gray who walked out to the arena again. Boos were

He held his hand out and Lucy took it. Gray hoisted her up and embraced her tightly.

"We'll show them. Don't cry, don't cry..." he murmured. "Don't worry," Gray soothed. "We'll show them the power of the strongest guild in Fiore."

She hiccupped, "Gray... I'm sorry. I told you I would win."

"Shhh," he quieted her. "It's okay. You did your best and they cheated. You were going to win. We'll show them, Luce. We will."

He lifted his head to glare at the smirking faces of Sabertooth and Raven Tail and suddenly hated them a lot more.

Oh, were they going to regret ridiculing Fairy Tail, ridiculing _Lucy._

**_I'm not going to be able to write for the rest of the holidays, sorry. I've started to write out a new story but it hasn't been published yet. I might publish it after a couple of chapters have been written. but yeah, focusing on that for the rest of vacation. HAPPY EASTER AND APRIL FOOLS FOR TOMORROW!_**


	10. Chapter 10

**YOOHOO! How you doin'?**

**...**

**Alright, don't kill me.**

**I was supposed to update 3 months ago (a quarter of a year o.o Yay! I can math), and then I realised that my plan for this story had a problem. But I fixed it, so no worries ^^ This chapter is kinda unnecessary, but I wrote it anyway. You can choose not to read it, it's the same as what happened in the manga, but it's the NEXT CHAPTER that has the exciting part. This chapter does have Erza meeting Millianna. I've got to stop ruining chapters with these notes.**

**If you haven't noticed yet, Changes hasn't really been my base story for the past 3 months. Yeah. No excuses but updates won't be really that often now. They won't be once every 3 months (I'm sorry) but not once every week like last time. Once every two weeks, maybe. This chapter is NOT the best, I'm trying to get used to writing like this.**

Erza sighed. She felt really bad for Lucy and Gray, but they were currently gone while Fairy Tail were at the bar. She was sitting at a table, looking around. Fairy Tail were at Bar Sun. Despite the bar's cheerful name, the bartenders were, in fact, not and were rather lazy. Unfortunately for them, a lot of orders came through that night. After all, it _was _Fairy Tail.

"Gray!" she heard Mira call. Erza whipped her head around, and to her surprise, she saw the two mages. Mira grinned, "Lucy! What were you to doing in the rooms~?"

Levy joined in, "_Anything interesting to tell?_" She giggled, hiccuping a little. She stumbled while walking over to them.

"No, no," Lucy waved her hands in front of her. "We're still innocent."

"Funny," Gray smirked. "Neither Mira or Levy mentioned anything about your innocence."

She blushed intensely, "Gray!"

Erza smiled in their direction, _they're so cute. _Her eyes wandered to the empty table she was sitting at.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Jellal asks, sitting down across from her, with a chocolate cake slice in one hand and strawberry in another.

She shrugged, "Nothing really." She spotted the cake, "Is that _strawberry cake_?" she leaned forward eagerly.

Jellal smiled knowingly, "Yup." He slid the plate to her, "Here."

"Thanks!" Her earlier thoughts forgotten. She held out her hand, expecting a spoon.

"Wait," Jellal stopped her. "Let me have some." He took some of her cake, using her spoon, and ate it. She then received the spoon back, blushing.

"Want some of mine?" he questioned, trying hard not to smirk. Erza looked up, and saw him holding his spoon with rich chocolate cake, "Want some?" he repeated.

"Take it, take it, take it!" Mira popped up out of nowhere. "Indirect kiss!"

Now both of their faces were flaming. Jellal had no problem teasing her, _when they were alone，_but with Mira, it was a lot less..._private._ A lot less... _them._

Erza felt pressured to take it, and reached out for the spoon. Jellal moved and positioned it in front of her mouth. "Open," he instructed.

She did as ordered and felt the creamy chocolate cake in her mouth. She closed her eyes in ecstasy, "It's delicious."

"Thanks!" Mira thanked. Erza's eyes snapped open, she forgot Mirajane was even there, let alone she baked the cakes.

"I should be the one saying thanks," Jellal shook his head. "You recommended them, and made them. Thanks."

"Anything for _you two," _she winked and walked over to tease Gray and Lucy.

"So..." Erza struggled to come up with a conversation.

"_Indirect kiss, _huh?" Jellal teased.

"Jellal!"

* * *

"You did great today," Gray told Lucy softly. "They cheated, you were perfect."

Lucy nodded and looked down at her drink. She declared, head high, "I'll beat them next time."

"_We'll _beat them next time," Gray corrected.

Lucy smiled happily and drank some of her soft drink. She mused, "In a bar, yet I'm not drinking alcohol. I'm supposed to be 24."

"Huh?" Gray asked, confused at the sudden change of topic. "What?"

"The timeskip is so...weird," she decided. "Am I 17 or 24? Can I drink alcohol yet?"

"Hmm," Gray thought. "I'm supposed to be 25."

Lucy immediately laughed, "It's so weird to think of us any different from now." They left the conversation at that, drinking the rest of their beverages.

"Hey guys," Levy slouched next to them.

"What's up, Levy-chan?" Lucy asked.

She sighed. "I'm tired."

"Gajeel's over there," Gray gestured at said mage, already drawing conclusions.

"And why would I care!?" Levy exclaimed. "He's a jerk!" She stomped her foot and glared daggers at the iron mage. Gajeel, not knowing anything, looked confused. Levy hissed.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy exclaimed, surprised.

Levy continued, not even looking at the two, but at the metal wizard, "No, not just a jerk. He's a dic"-

"Whoa," Lucy put a hand over her mouth. "I think you've drunk too much."

"Whf? nof," Levy mumbled into Lucy's hand.

Gray nodded, "Yeah, you have. I'll go get Gajeel to take you back."

"Whf? nof!" Levy screamed. Lucy laughed.

"She's all yours, Gajeel," she handed the young bookworm to the serious dragon slayer. "Be careful."

"Don't rape her or anything," Gray joked. "Just because she's drunk"-

"Shut up, stripper."

* * *

"Welcome to the second day of the Grand Magic Games!"

"Why isn't Mystogan here?" Lucy asked Mira, realising the reason seconds later.

Erza replied, "Oh yeah, he told me. Something about dark magic in a food court. I think he was just hungry."

"Mystogan will arrive soon," Mira told her, grinning. "No need to be impatient."

"The Event Part is Chariot!"

"Oh crap," Natsu groaned, already starting to gag. Next to him, Gajeel was having similar thoughts. _Why today?_

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Gray scoffed, "A race? All right, what kind of idiot chose Natsu for this?" The fire mage glared, lighting his hands up.

"Oi!" Natsu yelled, attracting the attention of bystanders, "Snowfl"-

"Himself, actually," Lucy cut him off. "Yesterday," she rolled her eyes as Natsu got mad again, but this time at her for the interruption.

"What an idiot," Gray shook his head. "But then again, nothing more of what I expected of him."

"I heard that!"

"Boys," Erza said solemnly before shouting, "Natsu go out and participate already and Gray, shut up!"

"Aye sir!"

* * *

"He's going to lose," Gray said from the sidelines, looking at a struggling Natsu Dragneel.

Lucy disagreed, "Not necessarily. I mean, Gajeel and Sting are having trouble too," she pointed out.

"Have more faith," Erza reprimanded. "He is your best friend, isn't he?"

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

"Natsu..." Happy said worriedly, looking at his best friend stagger of the field.

"He'll be fine, Happy," Lucy soothed the young Exceed. "It's just motion sickness."

'B-but..." he protested. "That's not what I have a problem with."

"Then what is it?" Gray asked.

"He's getting his ass kicked," the Exceed said bluntly.

Lucy shook her head, "You're a horrible friend, Happy."

Happy pouted and tears pricked into his eyes, "Gray~," he whined, "Lucy's picking on me~"

* * *

Natsu's legs shook, but he planted one foot after another, slowly but firmly.

Footsteps were heard from Fairy Tail's stands and Erza turned around curiously, eyes brightening. Erza stood up, "Jell-mpf!" Jellal's hand clasped against her mouth.

"Mystogan," he reminded her. She nodded and went back to watch the events of Chariot.

* * *

"It's for our comrades. For seven years... Always... They were waiting for us... No matter how tough it was, no matter how sad; even if they were made fools of, they endured and endured... and protected the guild. For our comrades, we'll show you... The proof that Fairy Tail has kept going! And that's why we'll keep moving forward!" Natsu stumbled over the line and promptly fell down, Gajeel behind him.

"Sting surrenders! And with that, Chariot has finished!" Mato wrapped it up, "Onto the next round!"

Chapati cut in, "The battle part, one versus one! Raven Tail versus Lamia Scale! Fairy Tail A versus Quatro Cerberus! Fairy Tail B versus Blue Pegasus! Sabretooth versus Mermaid Heel!"

"First up! Kurohebi versus Toby Horhorta!"

"How about we place a bet?" Kurohebi raised a brow. "If I win, you tell me your deepest, darkest secret, if you do, I'll tell you mine."

"Yohoo!" Toby agreed.

* * *

Erza sniffled, "Poor Toby," tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, "Raven Tail," she cursed, "Why they"-

"She sure gets sad for no reason at all," Gray observed.

"My, my," Mira said calmly.

Jellal stood silently, battling the urge to talk.

"Mirajane versus Jenny!" Chapati called out, hearts in his eyes. "A battle of models! Who will win?"

"Me, of course," Jenny boasted. "Mirajane doesn't stand a chance."

Mirajane just laughed kindly, "Let's try our best."

"Well, they had a bet, why don't we?" Jenny smiled. "The loser stars in the Weekly Sorcerer"-

"What's so bad with that?" Lucy tilted her head at Gray.

-"Nude."

"Oh."

"Let's get started!" Chapati shouted overexcitedly.

They started posing.

"Schoolgirl!"

"Bondage!"

"Cat Ears!"

"Glasses Girl!"

"Wedding Dress!"

"Hnn," Erza said thoughtfully, "They're tying."

"Mira's winning over the older men and the younger men," Jellal murmured, "Jenny's on the middle-aged. Eventually, they've got to actually battle," he told her. "That's when it'll get interesting."

"What do you mean?" Laxus smirked, slinging an arm over 'Mystogan's' shoulders, "This is plenty interesting. Or maybe you're interested in something _else._ Or someone."

Jellal spluttered, "No!" He glanced at Erza, "Well not 'no', but not ''yes' either." He looked confused, "Maybe?"

Erza and Laxus snickered. The latter clapped the blue haired mage on the back, "Don't worry, she does too." Erza blushed and Laxus continued, "Maybe." Laxus chuckled, "Don't worry about it, Mystogan."

"Satan Soul: Sitri!" Mirajane yelled, fire immediately enveloping Jenny.

"And Mirajane wins!" Chapti yelled.

"We'll be seeing you on the cover of Sorcerer's Weekly then," Mirajane winked, already in her ordinary transformation.

* * *

"A member of the Rune Knights will be supervising tomorrow," Jellal informed Erza, "I can't turn up or participate tomorrow." Erza walked across the wall slowly. It was evening already, the moon was shining bright, and Jellal was walking her home, still in Mystogan's clothes. They had taken an accidental detour in the thoughts of prolonging the trip, and were now walking along along a brick wall covered in ivy.

"Hmm," Erza said thoughtfully, "It's most likely Lahar or Doranbolt. Who's replacing you?"

"Cana," he replied shortly.

"Er-chan!"

Erza whipped her head around, a sword already in her hand.

"Up here!"

Erza lifted her head up, and on the wall, sat the cloaked girl from Mermaid Heel. As soon as Erza raised a brow, the cloak was flung off. Jellal's eyes widened.

Erza's eyes were as wide as plates, "Millianna?" Said girl leapt into the arms of Scarlet.

"Er-chan!" she said happily. Millianna realised they weren't alone and turned to Mystogan. "Who's this?"

Erza shifted protectively over Jellal, knowing how he felt, "Um, Mystogan, an S-class in our guild. He doesn't talk often," she added as a warning for Jellal.

"Hi!" Millianna lifted a hand to shake. Jellal shakingly shook her hand. Millianna frowned, looking at his gloved hand. She shrugged and grinned at Erza, "I was going to tell you after the Games, but I couldn't wait!"

Erza gave her a smile, "Are Wally and Sho in Mermaid Heel too?"

Millianna laughed, "No, silly! Mermaid Heel is only for girls! Wally and Sho are still travelling around the world."

Erza flushed, embarrassed, "Erm, yeah, I forgot. Are you happy in Mermaid Heel?"

"Yup!" she responded. "Kagura-chan is awesome! She's as strong as you!"

Erza was amused, "She might be. I was impressed by her performance against Sabertooth. I wonder if she'd fight me unsheathing the sword."

"Oh, she won't," Millianna shook her head. Her expression grew dark, "She's saving it for the person she hates the most. The person who ruined her life." Her eyes narrowed. "Jellal."

Erza opened her mouth, "But"-

"I know you hate him, Er-chan," she said. Jellal froze. Millianna's face darkened in hatred, "I do too. He destroyed my life. I will never forgive him. You _do _feel the same, right?"_  
_

Erza straightened, "No." Millianna gaped, shocked. Erza continued, "I don't hate Jellal."

"But he trapped us!" she cried, "He betrayed you! He lied to us! He lied to _us _about _you_."

"And you believed it," she countered. "No, I do not hate Jellal. He was possessed to do what he did."

"Er-chan, you are wrong," she said. Millianna spat, "He brainwashed you, didn't he? I'll prove to you he is evil."

Erza looked at Mystogan desperately but he shook his head. She shrugged, "Fine." Her tone softened, "It really is great to see you, Millianna."

"Same!" she grinned, forgetting about the earlier topic."Well, Er-chan, Mystogan-san, I've got to go, Kagura-chan might get angry if I don't!" she ran in the direction of their lodge, waving.

Once she'd gone out of hearing distance, Erza turned to Jellal. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "I didn't know she was here." Her eyes were determined, "She's wrong though, Millianna doesn't know."

He put a hand over his eyes and leaned against the wall, "I think I need a moment."


	11. Chapter 11

**Holy gosh, this chapter's long. Blame the urge to write the almost complete, very long fight scene against monsters. I usually grow bored but not this time, mwahahaha. It's so long people might actually get bored reading it though T^T I think I was on a sugar rush when that happened and I wrote it in one sitting.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. Because, if I did, that stupid JELLAL WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO- anyway.**

**Note: I made Erza right-handed, because I didn't know and she uses her right hand for most moves anyway (eg. Fairy Piercing Sword, Water Slash)**

"Hey, Gray," Lucy began, suddenly blushing. "Erm..."

"Yes?" Gray teased while poking her cheeks. He saw her face and immediately knew what came next was to be hilarious. He grinned and rested an arm on the bench, "What is it?" At that, she turned a deeper shade of red.

"Never mind," she murmured, face sinking into her arms in embarrassment.

"Come on," he urged. "Tell me!"

She flushed and shook her head, "No." She gave in at one look, "Fine." Then she told him. It was a quick whisper, so quiet Gray couldn't hear it.

He laughed, "Why are you speaking so quietly? There's no one here." Natsu and Lisanna were at the annual festival, Erza was with Jellal and Wendy decided to hang out with Mavis, leaving them alone at Honeybone Lodge. Gray ruffled her hair, "Speak louder. I won't get angry."

Lucy was forcefully louder, "How do you take off your clothes so fast?" She blushed again.

"What brought that question on?"

Lucy pointed at his naked torso muttering, "Need I say more?"

"I was fully clothed a second ago!" he shouted, scrambling to find his missing shirt.

"Exactly," Lucy said, giggling, "How do you lose them so fast?"

"Shut up," Gray flushed, "It's a habit."

"I thought you said you wouldn't get angry?" Lucy bit her lip in an attempt to not let the laughter come out.

"I'm not angry at you," he whined, slipping into his shirt, "Just frustrated."

"At your 'habit'?" she smirked, lying out on the bed.

"Hmm," he hummed, making shapes from ice. A hammer, a fish and a miniature replica of Lucy.

"Aww," she grinned, "Don't be frustrated, I think it's a cute habit." Lucy chuckled, eyes wandering.

Gray frowned, "Cute?" Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Get over it." Her eyes zeroed onto what Gray was doing, "Omigosh! That's awesome!"

"Want it?" Gray held it out. "You can keep it."

"Won't it melt?" she inquired, thinking logically.

"Yeah, it will," he laughed. He ruffled her hair, "Put it in the freezer." Lucy nodded and disappeared into the kitchen

"So," she returned seconds later, "Are you going to answer my question? How do you strip so fast?"

"Practise makes perfect," he answered, concentrating on the ice in his hands.

"See you tomorrow, Erza" They heard a man say, before a door closed. Erza walked in, ignorant of the stare Lucy was giving her.

She stifled her giggles quietly, "Aww, so cute."

Erza turned to Lucy, "What?" Lucy and Gray shrunk back and said at the same time,

"Never mind."

* * *

"All are welcome to the 3rd day of the Grand Magic Games!" Chapati announced. "And today, our special guest is from the army. Lahar!" The audience clapped and cheered. "And the first event is..." he stopped for suspense, "Pandemonium!"

"Each competitor is to go, one by one, to defeat the 100 monsters in the building." Immediately, a castle appeared in the arena. "The monsters are called out randomly, and for every one you defeat, you gain one point. They are ranked-A, B, C, D, and S. D is the easiest, C is the second easiest, B is harder and so on. There are 50 D monsters, 30 C monsters, 15 B monsters, 4 A monsters and 1 S monster. It is so powerful, that a Wizard Saint isn't guaranteed to defeat it. As for turns, we will be sorting them by magical drawing sticks. Choose your participants."

"A game of brains," Gray observed, "And brawn."

Lucy joined in, "You have to defeat enough at a time to win. Choose as many as you can, but not too many for you to defeat. But you can't choose too little either, or the monsters will be taken by someone else."

"Erza's the one for this," They decided together, "She's got the stamina."

"Very well," she agreed. 'I will not let you down."

Lucy peered over at the arena, "They've gotten Hibiki, Millianna, Obra, Orga, Nobarly and Cana." She added, "But her toughest competition is Jura."

"Hibiki too," Gray said, "He's smart enough." He watched as Hibiki flirted with Cana, saying sourly, "He can't get a job done though." Lucy gave him an unbelieving look. "Hey, it's true," he defended. Gray rolled his eyes, "Oracion Seis? Flirting with you?"

"Gray," she said. "Shut up."

"You know I'm right."

"Hey," Lucy drew the subject away. "Do you think Mystogan's watching Erza?"

"Of course," Gray nodded, "He's actually outside of the court, watching to sense the dark magic." he pointed discretely.

"All right, kabo!" Mato shouted. "Draw your sticks."

"1..." Erza said aloud, reading the number.

"Lucky," Cana laughed, clearly drunk and wearing Mato's signature hat, "It will go back to you the most."

"How many will you choose?" Mato asked.

Erza walked to the entrance of the castle, "My challenge right will be all 100."

* * *

Jellal was shocked, even under all the layers of clothes, _Erza... What the hell are you thinking?_ he sent her telepathically. Hearing this, she scanned the crowd and spotted him.

She looked at him, _I've got this. Trust me. _Erza sent him a grin.

_You know you can win, even if you just chose 51, _he sent her.

_Don't worry, _Erza reassured. _I'm just going to show them the strength of Fairy Tail._

_I'm sorry if I was worried about you getting hurt,_ he thought sarcastically. The message was not sent, therefore Erza was not aware how much Jellal had stressed over it.

"She is going to die," Meredy said worriedly.

Just as she'd said that, the commentators said, "The Grand Magic Games are not to be held responsible for any injuries or deaths."

Ultear chuckled, "Have more faith in the second origin _I _unlocked."

Erza walked bravely into the building, and almost all of the audience attempted to lean closer to the lacrima in front of them.

"Erza Scarlet, of Fairy Tail A," she announced. "Fighting 100."

Erza saw a pillar in the middle of the castle, but it was quickly blocked by a group of monsters running her way, growling and snarling, with the occasional breath of fire.

"B-class monsters, kabo," Mato introduced, "can breathe fire!"

Requipping quickly into her Flame Empress Armour, she blew the fire away with a strike of a Sea Empress sword and sent a fusion of water and fire to the B-class, making it vanish. Her Heaven's Wheel Swords pinned 5 monsters to the ground and they disappeared as well. Unfortunately, they were all D-class. Erza sprinted toward the pillar, attempting to get there before the monsters resumed their attack.

Erza suddenly was thrown into the air, her armour breaking, making her go back to her ordinary clothes. The impact on the ground jolted her and made her wince in pain. Glancing at it, she touched it instinctively. The wound was covered in blood and printed with a claw mark.

"And Titania has just been hit by a A-class!"

Erza sprinted up the A-class monster that attacked her while requipping and swung her spike mace at it. The purgatory armour's mace proved ineffective, until Erza swung it at the beast's eye. A pained growl escaped and the large A-class dissipated.

The knight turned around and blocked a swipe from an oncoming monster, the D-class. D-classes were the smallest Erza had seen so far, fitting as they were apparently the weakest. She noticed as the ranks went higher, the bigger the monsters were. A-class were huge and almost human-like, but Erza could not help wondering how monstrous the S-class would be.

Stabbing a knife through the D-class's forearm, Erza was shocked to see it disappear. She had thought they were weak, but not that much so.

She frowned while she was still running to the pillar, she had yet to see an S-class monster. Another D-class monster advanced, snapping its jaw at the scarlet-haired wizard but a shower of swords from above made it disappear, as well as the 9 more D-classes behind it.

"And that's **17** monsters down by Miss Scarlet," Lahar nodded. "She is doing very well. Being able to requip into one full set, both armour and weapons, is a admirable feat in itself, only a few are able to perform it. However requipping into a set with the ability to select an article from another set purposely is almost unheard of. Erza-san may be arguably one of the best requip mages of all time."

"And she wouldn't be if not for me," Ultear boasted under her breath.

"Technically, you know, she could," Meredy piped up, "Acnologia wouldn't have come if not for Zeref, who wouldn't have bought it there if Grimoire Heart wasn't intent on reviving him."

"Be quiet," Ultear hissed. "You're ruining my good mood."

"Requip: Black Wing Armour," Erza intoned, the winged armour appearing. Instead of the usual, she was holding a sword, the one belonging to the Lightning Empress set. She leapt from the body of the D-class and shot to the 2 B-class blocking her way.

"Lightning beam!" Energy blasts were unleashed from the swords just before Erza had collided with the monsters. The attack only provoked them more, their fire-hot claws sinking into her leg. She cried out and threw a Giant's spear at the attacking B-class and 2 rapiers from her Flight Armour set at the other. They fell like the others previously had, roaring in anger.

Erza requipped in her normal Attack clothes, and de-limbed a C-class, followed by another and another. She smashed into the castle walls, away and slammed back.**  
**

"C-class monsters rely on their wind power!" Mato announced. "Kabo!"

She studied the way they used their magic, even when she was being lifted and hit back.

"The wind isn't very strong," Erza learnt, already changing into something new. "It can't match the speed of my Flight Armour." She used the wall as a boost, flew to the C-class and sliced another 3.

"25 down, three quarters to go. She is handling this as if it were easy." Lahar was amazed. "And trust me, it is not."

Chapati was interested, "The Rune Knights had to test out this event, didn't they, Lahar-san?"

"Indeed," he agreed. "It took two parties to destroy only half of them. Even with an extra party, we couldn't beat the S-class."

He put on a serious face and jumped to a different topic, "However, I am puzzled at the red mark on her right arm. It almost looks like a... a... a guild mark." He proceeded to recite the rules on joining multiple guilds.

Lucy muttered, "Maybe it'd be smart for him to check before jumping to conclusions."

Erza realised she was close enough to the pillar, finally. She jumped onto it and requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armour, "Blumenblatt!" Hundreds of swords rained down on the monsters, but only the rest of the D-class disappeared. The C-class were severely weakened, but stood their ground.

"Whoo!" Mato was breathless, "That is 60 down altogether!"

"That's amazing," Mavis said, impressed. "She not only defeated the D-class, but she is evaluating the strength of the others. After, she can choose which armour to use."

She jumped down from the pillar, and requipped back into her Black Wing Armour.

It gets stronger with every attack," Happy told Carla, "Want a fish?" Carla rejected it.

Four B-class were unfortunate enough to meet the wrath of Moon Slash, effectively cutting each in half. They dissipated immediately, and Erza grinned in satisfaction, not noticing the beast to the side. She flung up and crushed on the ground, due to a C-class's magic. The C-class stomped on her arm with a sickening _crunch_.

"Erza's useful hand is unable to work any longer!" Chapati was on the edge of his seat in anticipation, "Is this the end of Titania's reign?"

All of Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere rolled their eyes, knowing exactly what was to happen next.

A B-class ambled over and swished it's tail, making Erza fly to another monster. She requipped twin Morning Star swords at her feet, stabbing it when she collided. It roared in pain, and in the instant, Erza had it decapitated.

Unfortunately, now she was on the ground, and a main target for the rest of the monsters. An A-class had grabbed her in on hand, and threw her to a B-class. It tried to swipe her off, but when it touched her, the claws did not harm her as her flash-requipping had enabled her to requip into Fire-Empress Armour. When its hot claws touched its own skin, it disappeared.

She fell onto the ground, crouching. An A-class spotted her. Raising a fist, it prepared to make a tough blow. It smashed down, dust arising.

And then it's arm broke into bits, followed by its entire torso. Everyone gaped in surprise. Erza wasn't damaged at all, and was protecting herself with the giant shoulder pads of Adamantine Armour.

"Maybe she's not going to die," Meredy commented.

Jellal snapped, "Of course she isn't." He turned back to the game, almost as awaiting as the others.

"Ooh," Ultear laughed, "Touchy, touchy."

Again in her Black Wing Armour, Erza began her comeback, cutting the already weakened C-class down one by one, until all had fallen.

_Five more B-class, and two A-class left, _she thought tiredly. _But I haven't seen the S-class yet._

A tiny ball rolled past her feet.

* * *

"Since all the monsters in Pandemonium were defeated by Erza Scarlet, the makers have come up with a simple game. Magical Power Finder, or MPF for short, is the ball the organizers are bringing in right now," Mato gestured at the ball. "Just attack the ball, and it will rank your power, in the order of the sticks. Step up."

_You were good_, Jellal started again and sent it to Erza. He grinned when she replied.

"They are speaking _again_," Ultear groaned but she was secretly happy.

"Of course," Meredy rolled her eyes.

Jellal smiled mysteriously, "Maybe we were chatting all that time?"

"No," Meredy stated. "I should've known! You were so happy!"

Jellal narrowed his eyes and lifted his arm. A pink glow radiated from his wrist. "Meredy!" he yelled angrily. "Get the sense link off, now!" he shouted.

She giggled, "Okay, okay, no need to get angry."

Jellal stopped, "Wait. Do you sense that? This dark feeling... It appeared when that Chelia girl came. I will investigate." He ran down to the first row.

* * *

"It's still there," he realised once Wendy's and Chelia's battle was over. Jellal's attention was brought to a person with a hood, running past the exit of the stadium. He chased them, heart pounding, signalling to Ultear and Meredy.

Erza noticed and said to Makarov, "Master... I shall clean my wounds." And set off after him. Unknown to them, Doranbolt did too.

Jellal ran into the main hall, where people were still entering.

"Hey!" Doranbolt called out. Jellal turned around to flee, but Doranbolt had teleported to his side and had grabbed his elbow. "Mystogan, eh?"

Lahar with his army were patrolling. Seeing Doranbolt and Jellal, he ran to them, "What's the matter?"

"Mystogan... Mystogan does not belong in this world," Doranbolt stated. "You are not Mystogan."

"Of course he is," Erza calmly walked up to them. Doranbolt quickly removed Jellal's mask. The reaction was immediate.

"He has the face of Jellal Fernandes!" Lahar cried. "He is a criminal!"

Team Mermaid Heel was walking along, until Millianna spotted a particular scarlet-haired mage. She called out, "Er-cha- Jellal." Her face darkened and her reaction was immediate, "What's that... bastard doing here?" She slammed a hand against a wall in anger. "Er-chan's with him."

Kagura looked at them in curiosity, wondering what had made Millianna so angry. Seeing the blue haired criminal, she dropped to her knees and began hyperventilating.

Millianna squeezed her eyes shut, "Of course. Er-can stuck up for him. She was with him all along. _Er-chan has betrayed us as well_." She helped Kagura up.

"_Mystogan _was born like this," Erza responded to Doranbolt. "I would've thought you could've done more research when you acted as a _mole _in our guild." She said with a bit more venom, "Especially since you _faked _to be his apprentice."

"How would I have known, exactly?" Doranbolt shot back. "He never revealed his face to anybody."

"See," she sighed. "You should've done more research. Mystogan showed Wendy Marvell, Master Makarov, Porlyusica and me." She had to lie about the last part, "Particularly me, as I have a past with Jellal Fernandes, he did not want me to lash out in anger if I found out accidentally."

"Let me tell you why." Erza explained, "There is a parallel universe, Edolas, and there are parallel people as well. There is another Erza Scarlet, another Natsu Dragneel, another Gray Fullbuster, another Lucy Heartfilia and so on. There is also another Jellal Fernandes. These Edolas people have different names but we are identical. My counterpart is known as Erza Knightwalker." Erza took a breath, and a lie bubbled up in a throat. "She is evil."

"Jellal Fernandes on Earthland is evil," she lied through gritted teeth. "He has lied, tricked and infiltrated the Magic Council. He is a criminal." Jellal tensed, and she shot him a hidden desperate look. He gave her a reassuring glance, saying it was okay and she went on, "His counterpart is not. Mystogan is, unfortunately, his counterpart and born with the same face."

"I believe that," Doranbolt agreed. Erza and Jellal relaxed slightly. "But the passageway to Edolas closed 7 years ago, now there is no connection between the two worlds."

Before she could help it, another lie slipped out, "Fairy Tail created a way to transport him here and back in time for the Grand Magic Games. We have to win, after all," she added. "And since he's still a member, it's legal."

"Very well," Lahar nodded. "I will not bother you any longer. That means you too, Doranbolt." They marched away, Doranbolt still unbelieving.

"Wait," he called out, making Lahar stop. "I'm sure you _are _Jellal."

"He isn't," Erza restated.

"Then show me his Fairy Tail mark." Doranbolt smirked knowingly at Erza's petrified expression.

_Oh crap._


End file.
